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THE  CHARACTER 


THE   GENTLEMAN 


FEANOI.S  LIEBEK, 


C.  MEMBKR  OF  TRF  INSTITUTK  OF  FRAKCE,  AUTHOR  OF  "  CIVIL  UBSRTY 
ANP    SELF-flOVKRyjIKNT,"  ETC. 


CTbiri)  aub  mnrij  OSnlarigciJ  (Biiition. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.   B.   LIPPINOOTT    &    CO. 

18G4.  '    '*^ 


■t^'- 

A  . 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1800,  by 

FRANCIS  LIEBKR, 

in  the  Clerk's  OflRcc  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  tlio 

Hontliern  District  of  New  York. 


>^2.<i/ 


ADYEETISEMENT 
FOE  THE  THIED  EDITION. 


The  manuscript  of  the  third  edition,  with  many 
additions  and  some  corrections,  had  been  lying  for 
years  in  the  author's  hbrary,  when  recently  he  found 
that  in  1862  this  little  work  had  been  issued  from 
the  British  press,  with  a  preface  by  "  E.  B.  Shuld- 
ham,  Ch.  Ch.  Oxon."  Possibly  a  rejDrint  of  the 
English  edition  might  be  published  in  America,  did 
not  the  author  himself  furnish  the  public  with  a 
new  one.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  present  third, 
or,  if  the  English  publication  be  counted,  fourth, 
edition,  is  now  issued  even  in  the  midst  of  our  civil 
war,  which  leads  us  to  think  of  graver  and  far  dif- 
ferent things. 

I  have  retained  the  form  of  an  address,  for  reasons 
given  in  the  preface  to  the  second  edition ;  and  I 
have  not  hesitated  to  add  remarks  which  may  ap- 
pear as  anachronisms  in  a  discourse  delivered  so  long 

ago  as  in  the  year  1846. 

F.  L. 


PART    OF    THE    PEEFACE    TO    THE    SECOND 

EDITION,  PUBLISHED  IN  THE 

YEAR  1847. 


The  students  of  Miami  University,  in  the  State 
of  Ohio,  did  me  the  honor  of  inviting  me,  during 
the  past  summer,  to  deliver  an  address  on  the  even- 
ing before  their  Commencement  Day.  I  had  never 
visited  that  teeming  region  of  the  spreading  West, 
and  gladly  accepted  the  invitation.  The  address 
was  printed,  according  to  custom,  and  I  was  fur- 
nished with  a  liberal  supply  of  copies,  not  sufficient, 
however,  to  satisfy  all  persons  who  seemed  desirous 
of  perusing  it.  Repeated  propositions  to  republish 
it  were  made  ;  but  they  would  not  have  induced  me 
to  venture  upon  a  second  edition  of  so  fugitive  a 
composition,  had  not  some  trustees  and  many  stu- 
dents of  our  own  institution  desired  me  to  do  it. 
...  I  now  offer  the  following  pages,  still  called  on 
the  title-page  an  address,  but  forming  in  reality  an 
essay.  For,  in  preparing  the  copy  for  republication, 
I  have  not  only  felt  at  liberty  to  make  alterations 
and  many  additions,  but  I  have  thought  it  my  duty 


6  PREFACE    TO    THE    SECOND   EDITION. 

to  do  so,  simply  because  my  composition  is  now  to 
be  read,  and  not  to  be  heard,  and  because  I  was 
desirous  of  rendering  it  less  unworthy  of  a  second 
issue  from  the  press. 

I  must  beg  the  reader  to  keep  this  fact  in  mind, 
should  he,  in  perusing  these  pages,  feel  disposed 
critically  to  compare  the  present  length  of  the  dis- 
course with  the  time  which  ought  in  fairness  to 
limit  orally-delivered  addresses,  and  possibly  to 
charge  me  with  a  failing  against  which  I  have  a 
strong  aversion, — the  error  of  detaining  hearers,  or 
readers,  of  speeches,  addresses,  exhortations,  mes- 
sages, and  documents,  beyond  reasonable  bounds. 
No  one  acknowledges  more  readily  than  myself 
the  inconvenience  arising  from  lengthy  lucubra- 
tions and  unmeasured  effusions.  They  war  with  a 
virile  style,  with  vigorous  thought,  and  close  atten- 
tion, and  lead  to  an  unfortunate  passiveness  in  the 
hearers  who  are  patient  only  because  their  minds 
fall  into  a  state  of  half-absorbing  dulness,  assimi- 
lating with  themselves  what  is  said  as  little  as  the 
sponge  assimilates  the  moisture  which  it  absorbs. 
We  must  acknowledge  that  inordinately  long,  shal- 
low speaking  has  become  a  national  and,  I  fear,  an 
unnerving  evil,  which  it  is  full  time  to  amend,  if 
character,  the  true  source  of  national  greatness,  is 


PREFACE    TO    THE    SECOND    EDITION.  7 

dearer  to  us  than  speeches ;  but  as  to  the  pages  I 

here  offer,  the  reader  will  remember  what  I  just 

stated, — that  the  composition,  although   retaining 

the  form  of  an  address,  has  become  in  reality  an 

essay,  and  as  such  I  would  hope  that  it  is  not  too 

long  in  proportion  to  the  importance  of  its  subject, 

when  we  consider  it  as  an  element  of  the  high  and 

various  civilization  which   has  become  the  proud 

inheritance  and  responsible  talent  of  the  vast  family 

composed  of  all  the  advanced  nations. 

F.  L. 
January,  1847. 


1* 


THE 

CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN/ 


Young  Gentlemen  : 

The  very  word  by  which  I  have  the  pleasure 
of  addressing  you  will  form  the  subject  of  the 
address,  which,  in  the  spirit  of  great  kind- 
ness, you  have  called  upon  me,  unknown  to 
you  as  I  am,  to  deliver  on  this  festive  day. 
I  tender  you  my  cordial  thanks  for  this  proof 
of  your  regard ;  but,  in  doing  so,  I  must  remind 
you  that  I  find  difficulties  of  no  common  cha- 
racter surrounding  me  at  this  moment.  My 
foot  treads  for  the  first  time  the  soil  of  your 
sylvan  State ;  I  am  unacquainted  with  what 
may  be  peculiar  to  your  society,  or  character- 
istic of  your  institution.     I  thus  may  stand 

*  Originally  an  Address  delivered  to  the  students  of 
Aliami  University,  Ohio,  on  Commencement  Eve    1840. 


10     CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN. 

in  clanger  of  losing  myself  with  you  in  unpro- 
fitable generalities.  Let  me  beg  you,  there- 
fore, to  bear  with  me,  should  you  consider  my 
subject  not  sufficiently  characteristic  for  this 
particular  occasion,  for  which  I  have  selected 
the  Character  of  the  Gentleman.  It  appeared 
to  me  that  an  inquiry  into  the  projDOsition, 
"What  is  the  true  character  of  the  gentleman, 
and  what  rules  of  action  do  we  derive  from  the 
results  of  this  inquiry?  might  be  made  useful 
and  instructive  to  young  men  who,  in  receiv- 
ing a  liberal  education,  are  preparing  them- 
selves for  the  most  important  walks  of  prac- 
tical life,  or  the  spheres  of  literature,  eloquence, 
and  public  action. 

Young  as  you  are,  you  must  have  observed, 
that  the  term  gentleman  is  used  in  common 
intercourse  indeed  almost  unmeaningly,  or  as 
a  term  merely  indicating  that  we  do  not  mean 
the  opposite;  but  that  the  word  has  also  come 
to  designate,  in  a  direct  and  positive  manner, 
a  character  of  high  and  even  lofty  attributes, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  is  employed  on  occa- 
sions apparently  much  diifering  in  their  na- 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN.     11 

ture.  It  is  made  use  of  as  an  incentive  in 
education  at  home  and  in  training  at  school 
for  those  who  are  yet  sporting  through  the 
age  of  boyhood.  Every  one  of  us  has  felt 
his  boyish  heart  glow  more  warmly  when  our 
parent  or  teacher  said,  with  smiling  approval, 
"  You  are  a- little  gentleman ;"  and  Dr.  Thoraas 
Ai*noldj^the_solid  scholar,  the  loving  Christian^ 
devoted  friend  of  liberty,  and  great  school- 
master, pronounced  it  his  highest  aim  to  make 
the  boys  intrusted  to  his  care  feel  like  Christian 
gentlemen.  An  English  writer,  in  order  to 
express  most  strongly  his  admiration  of  Plato's 
works,  says  that  they  are  pervaded  by  a  spirit, 
almost,  of  a  Christian  gentleman  ;*  an  officer 
of  the  army  or  navy  may  be  tried  for  "  con- 
SlTct  unbecoming  a  gentleman," — a  charge  ruin- 
ous to  his  career,  if  the  court  pronounces  him 
guilty;    "on   the   v\^ord  of  a   gentleman,"   is 

*  There  is  a  work,  published  some  years  ago,  "which 
nevertheless  I  have  not  yet  met  with  : 

The  Christian  Gentleman's  Daily  Walk.  By  Sir  Archi- 
bald Edmonstone,  Bart.  Third  edition,  rearranged  and 
enlarged. 


IJ  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

considered  among  men  of  character  equiva- 
lent to  a  solemn  asseveration,  and  the  charge 
"he  is  no  gentleman/^  as  one  of  the  most  de- 
grading that  can  be  brought  against  a  m^an  of 
education.  You  would  understand  me  at  once 
as  being  desirous  of  conveying  a  grave  idea, 
were  I  to  say  that  Socrates,  though  condemned 
by  vulgar  envy,  died  passionless,  a  philosopher 
and  a  gentleman,  or  that  Charles  I.  of  Eng- 
land, after  having  long  j)i'evaricated,  and 
occasionally  stooped  to  unworthy  practices, 
demeaned  himself,  during  his  trial  and  on  the 
scaffold,  like  a  gentleman. 

Erskine,  the  great  advocate,  said,  in  one  of 
his  pleadings,  "  He  is  an  English  gentleman, 
the  best  thing  a  man  can  be;"  and  Townsend, 
in  his  "  History  of  the  House  of  Commons," 
calls  it.  The  society  of  the  first  gentlemen  in 
tlie  world. 

When  Nicholas,  the  Emperor  of  Eussia, 
conversing  with  the  English  ambassador.  Sir 
Hamilton  Seymour,  on  the  state  of  Turkey, 
was  desirous  of  impressing  the  latter  that  he 
was  speaking  with  perfect  truth,  he  said,  '•  Xow 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  io 

I  desire  to  speak  to  you  as  a  friend  and  as  a 
gentleman.'"^'  The  emperor  \Yas  speaking  in 
Frencli;  yet  he  used  the  English  term  "gen- 
tleman." 

I  give  in  conclusion  of  these  instances  Judge 
Talfourd's  words,  which  he  uttered  on  the 
bench,  in  a  case  tried  at  the  Bristol  assizes, 
shortly  before  his  sudden  death.  The  evi- 
dence proved  that  the  defendant,  while  in  the 
theatre,  had  said  to  the  plaintiff,  "Do  not 
=  speak  to  me :  I  am  a  gentleman,  and  you  are 
laTtradesman."  "  Grentleman,''  said  the  learned 
judge,  "is  a  term  whioh  rlo^s  -not  apply  fn  ^]}y_ 
station.  The  man  of  rank  who  dej)orts  him- 
self with  dignity  and  candor,  and  the  trades- 
man who  discharges  the  duties  of  life  with 
honor_and-integrity,  are^  alike,  entitled  to  it ; 
nay,  the  humblest  artisan,  who  fulfils  the  obli- 
gations cast  uj)on  him  with  virtue  and  with 
honor,  is  more  entitled  to  the  name  of  gentle- 
man than  the  man  who  could  indulge  in  offen- 


*  Sir  H.  Seymour's  despatch  of  January  22,  1853. 


14  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

sive  and  ribald  remarks,  however  big  his  sta- 
tion."* 

*  Different  meanings  are  given  to  the  word,  as  appears 
from  the  following. 

The  Englishman  (Indian  paper)  of  the  28th  .June,  1850, 
gave  the  following : — We  have  read  several  very  charac- 
teristic letters,  which  we  regret  we  are  not  permitted  to 
publish ;  but  one  has  just  been  handed  to  us  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  we  accordingly  subjoin  it.  The  afiFair,  as  re- 
lated to  us,  is  as  follows.  A  Mr.  Morgan,  employed  in  a 
public  office,  in  sending  a  small  sum  due  to  Mr.  Rowe, 
addressed  him  as  Sergeant  Rowe_  The  sergeant's  better 
half  was  incensed  at  this,  he  being  a  tailor  by  trade,  and 
employed  in  the  clothing  department,  and  probably  ex- 
pected to  be  addressed  as  esquire.  She  wrote  an  angry  letter 
to  the  offender,  who,  considering  the  sergeant  implicated, 
complained  to  the  commanding  officer  of  the  station,  and, 
not  obtaining  the  redress  he  expected,  forwarded  his 
complaint  to  the  commander-in-chief,  from  whom  he  re- 
ceived the  following  reply,  which  we  think  would  have 
been  recognized  without  the  signature. 

Camp,  April  IS,  1850. 
Sir: — I  have  received  your  complaint,  and  your  very 
sensible  remarks  on  Mrs.  Sergeant  Rowe's  letter.  There 
is,  as  you  say,  nothing  disgraceful  in  being  a  sergeant, 
any  more  than  in  being  a  tailor,  which  by  your  letter  Ser- 
geant Rowe  appears  to  be.  INIy  opinion  is  that  he  who 
wears  a  uniform  is  of  higher  rank  than  he  who  makes  it, 
and  the  sergeant  is,  in  my  mind,  much  the  liighest  in  rank 
of  the  two  !     All  soldiers  are  gentlemen,  and  tailors  are  only 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  15 

We  natiyally  ask,  then,  what  is  the  mean- 
ing of  this  comprehensive  term,  and  is  there 

tailors  !  But  it  seems  that  Mrs.  Rowe  thinks  otherwise, 
and  prefers  being  a  tailor's  wife  to  being  an  officer's  wife. 
Now,  in  my  opinion,  a  lady  has  a  right  to  hold  her  own 
opinion  on  these  matters,  and  I  am  unable  to  give  you  any 
redress,  because  my  commission  as  commander-in-chief 
gives  me  no  power  to  make  ladies  apologize  for  being 
saucy,  which  is  an  unfortunate  habit  that  they  fall  into 
at  times,  and  more  especially  those  who  are  good-looking, 
which  I  suppose  Mrs.  Sergeant  Rowe  happens  to  be.  As 
to  the  sergeant  having  written  the  letter,  that  is  neither 
here  nor  there.  Some  husbands  cannot  well  help  doing 
as  they  are  ordered,  and  he  may  be  innocent  of  malice. 
The  only  thing  that  I  can  do  is  to  advise  you  to  apply  to 
your  superior,  the  collector  and  magistrate  of  Farruck- 
abad,  who  will  represent  the  insult  which  has  been  put 
upon  you  by  Mr.  Sergeant  Rowe  (as  you  state),  and,  if 
possible,  Major  Tucker  will  endeavor  to  persuade  the 
lady  to  apologize  for  calling  you  an  ass.  More  than  giving 
you  this  advice  I  cannot  do. 

C.  J.  Napiee,  Commander-in-Chief. 

But  against  this  wayward  letter  I  must  be  permitted  to 
quote  a  passage  of  the  Epilogue  to  "Dr.  Birch  and  his 
Young  Friends,"  a  poem  published  in  England  in  the  year 
1848:— 

"Come  wealth  or  want,  come  good  or  ill. 
Let  young  and  old  accept  their  part. 
And  bow  before  the  awful  will, 
And  bear  it  with  an  honest  heart. 


16  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

any  thing  substantial  in  the  character  which 
it  designates,  or  is  it  an  idol,  arbitrarily  sct^ 

Who  misses  or  who  wins  the  prize? 

Go,  lose  or  conquer  as  you  can : 
But  if  you  fail,  or  if  you  rise, 

Be  each,  pray  God,  a  gentleman. 

"A  gentleman,  or  old  or  young! 

(Bear  kindly  with  my  humble  lays) — 
The  sacred  chorus  first  was  sung 

Upon  the  first  of  Christmas  days  : 
The  shepherds  heard  it  overhead. 

The  joyful  angels  raised  it  then: — 
Glory  to  heaven  on  high,  it  said, 

And  peace  on  earth  to  gentle  men." 

This  punning  on  "gentle"  in  the  word  gentleman  oc- 
curs very  frequently  in  English  literature.  Gentle,  as  in 
gentlefolk  and  gentleman,  meant  originally  belonging 
to  a  gens,  just  as  in  modern  times  the  expression  "of 
family"  is  used.  It  is  this  meaning  that  gave  so  che- 
rished a  meaning  to  the  word  gentleman  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  jNIany  of  my  readers  may  not  be  acquainted  with 
that  remarkable  passage  in  Juliana  Barnes's  book  on 
Armory,  which  Dr.  Allibone  has  given  in  his  "Critical 
Dictionary  of  English  Literature."  Juliana  Berners  or 
Barnes  was  a  prioress  towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  distinguished  for  beauty  and  learning.  Iler  men- 
tioned work  begins  with  the  following  piece  of  heraldry: 
"  Of  the  offspring  of  the  gentilman  Jafcth  come  Habra- 
ham,  Moyses,  Aron,  and  the  profettys;  and  also  the  kyng 
of   the   right   lyne  of   Mary,    of  whom    that    gentilman 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  17 

lip  by  fickle  fashion  beside  morality,  perhaps        \^f1 
above  relio;ion  ?     Has  it  become  a  caricature, 
however  innocent  at  first,  or  ought  it  to  be 
well  known  and  attentively  cultivated  ? 


I  must  not  detain  you  with  the  well-known 
etymologies  of  the  word,  given  among  others 
by  Gibbon,  nor  with  its  meaning  in  the  Eng- 
lish law.  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  or  any 
jn-oper  book  of  reference,  will  speedily  satisfy 
the  curious  on  this  point. 

Let  us  rather  endeavor  to  ascertain  what  is 
meant  at  present  by  those  who  choose  their 
words  with  care  and  knowledge,  when  they 
use  the  term  gentleman  in  its  highest  accepta- 
tion. lYow  may  see  it  frequently  Ktated  that""^ 
gentleman  means  gentle  man,  which  is  neither  j  ^?*^^ 
etymologically  correct,  nor  true  as  to  its  pre- 
sent peculiar  meaning.  Gentleness  is  indeed 
an  element  of  the  true  gentleman,  as  we  shall 
amply  see ;  but  it  alone  does  not  constitute  the 
gentleman.     If  it  did,  we  would  not  stand  in 

Jhesus  was  borne,  very  God  and  man  ;  after  his  manhoode 
kynge  of  the  land  of  Jude  and  of  Jues,  gentilman  by  his 
modre  Mary,  prince  of  cote  armure." 


18  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

need  of  the  word.  ']^he  Ayord  o-ontleTnnn  was 
formed  before  o;entIe  came  to  signify  kindli- 
ness Qf_soulj^but  it  is  nevertheless  instructive 
to  trace  all  the  meanings  now  assigned  to  the 
words  derived  from  the  Latin  gens^  through 
their  different  changes.  Let  me  advise  you 
to  reflect  on  the  meaning  of  Gentle,  and  of 
the  different  meanings  of  the  corresponding 
words  in  other  languages,  and  their  gradual 
h  growth  out  of  that  first  and  Roman  root  Gens. 
I  believe  the  word  gentleman  signifies  that 
character  which  is  distinguished  by  strict 
honoiy''  self-possession,  forbearance,  generous 
as  well  as  refined  feelings,  and  polished  de- 
portment,— a  character  to  which  all  meanness, 
explosive  irritableness,  and  peevish  fretfulness 
are  alien;  to  which,  consequently,  a  generous 
candor,    scrupulous    veracity,    and    essential 


*  A  reviewer  has  blamed  me  for  using  the  word  honor 
and  not  saying  what  I  mean,  adding  that  people  use  honor 
in  very  ditFerent  ways:  some  think  it  consists  in  paying 
debts  incurred  at  game,  others  in  treating  ladies  defe- 
rentially but  not  caring  how  many  servant-girls  may  he 
seduced.  Did  the  reviewer  really  mean  that  I  should 
build  a  causeway  of  definitions  as  I  went  along? 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  19 

truthfulness,  \conrage^_\both  moral  and  pby- 
sicaljdignity,  self-respect,  a  studious  avoid- 
ance of  giving  offence  to  others  or  oppressing 
them,  and  liberality  in  thought,  argument, 
and  conduct,  are  habitual  and   have  become 


natural.  Perhaps  we  are  justified  in  saying 
that  the  character  of  the  gentleman  implies 
an  addition  of  refinement  of  feeling  and  lofti- 
ness of  conduct  to  the  rigid  dictates  of  mo- 
rality and  the  purifying  precepts  of  religion. 
It  seems  to  me  that  we  always  connect  with 
the  word  gentleman  the  ideas  of  honor,  polish, 
collectedness  of  mind,  and  liberal  disposition, 
and  feel  thatTts'anTagomstic  charactersare — 
if  you  will  permit  me,  in  the  spirit  of  philosophi- 
cal inquiry,  to  use  words  some  of  which  do  not 
often  find  a  befitting  place  in  a  gentlemanly 
discourse — the  clown,  the  gossip,  the  back- 
biter, the  dullard,  coward,  braggart,  fretter, 
swaggerer,  the  snob,  the  flunkey,  the  bully, 
th^..ruffian,  and  the  blackguard,  according  to 
the  special  attribute  of  the  gentleman,  the  op- 
posite to  which  we  may  be  desirous  of  pointing 
out  in  the  antagonistic  character. 


20  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

If  I  use  here  the  word  polish,  I  mean,  in- 
deed, that  urbanity  which,  in  most  cases,  is 
the  effect  of  a  careful  education  and  choice 
intercourse,  consisting,  in  other  words,  in  high 
breeding,  but  which,  nevertheless,  may  result 
from  native  qualities  so  strong  that  subsequent 
cultivation  may  become  comparatively  unim- 
portant. Tliere  are  native  gentlemen,  as  there 
are  native  captains,  bards,  orators,  and  diplo- 
matists. Whoever  has  read  Captain  Wilson's 
account  of  the  Pelew  Islands*  will  concede 
that  the  king  Abba  Thulle  and  his  brothers, 
especially  Eaa  Kook,  were,  in  all  their  nudity 
and  want  of  acquaintance  with  white  men,  as 
delicately  feeling  and  complete  gentlemen  as 
can  be  found  in  any  nation  of  long-planted 
civilization ;  and  I  have  at  this  moment  an 
old,  now  departed,  negro  slave  in  my  mind, 
whom  I  have  never  seen  otherwise  than  oblig- 
ing, polite,   anticipating,   dignified,  true,  and 

*  Account  of  tlie  Pelew  Islands,  composed  from  the 
Journals  of  Captain  Henry  Wilson,  -wrecked  on  those 
Islands  in  the  Ship  Antelope,  in  1783,  by  G.  Keate,  Esq, : 
4th  edition,  London,  1780. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN.     21 

forbearing, — in  shortj^a  gentleman  in  his  lowlji 
aphftrft.  As  a  matter  of  course,  this  can  take 
pjace  by  way  of  exception  only;  but  the  more 
difficult  the  exception  the  more  honorable  is 

tKe  instance.  

A  term  which  has  so  long  ji  history  as  that 
of  gentleman,  and  whose  meaning  has  passed 
through  so  many  j)hases,  is,  naturally,  still 
used  in  many  different  senses;  nor  can  the 
cognate  words,  such  as  gentility,*  be  expected 

*  The  following  extract — somewliat  amusing  to  us  in 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  which  is  so  deeply 
marked  by  broad,  popular,  national  impulses — is  taken 
from  "  Visions  of  the  Times  of  Old  ;  or,  the  Antiquarian 
Enthusiast,"  by  Robert  Bigsby,  Esq.,  LL.D. :  3  vols., 
London,  1849 : 

"  Degrees  of  Gentility. 

"The  grant  of  a  coat-of-arms  constituting,  therefore, 
a  valuable  distinction,  a  mark  by  which  certain  parties 
are  hereditarily  to  be  recognized  as  superior  in  rank  to 
the  general  body  of  the  people,  it  necessarily  follows  that 
any  usurpation  of  that  privilege  by  others  is  an  offence, 
both  in  politics  and  morals,  which  deserves  and  should 
always  meet  with  a  ready  exposure  and  punishment. 
There  are  four  several  qualities  or  degrees  of  gentility 
arising  from  the  grant  of  coat-armor.  One  who  inherits 
a  coat-of-arms  from  his  father  is  styled  a  gentleman  of 


>JK. 


21J  CHARACTER    OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 

to  correspond  to  one  and  the  same  sense  of 
the  main  word.  The  different  meanings  of 
words  branch  out  in  different  directions,  and 
their  derivatives  and  cognate  terms  branch  out 
for  themselves.  It  frequently  happens,  esj)e- 
cially  in  the  English  language,  ■yiatthe_adjec- 
tive  formed  of  a  noun  receives  an  additional 


birth  ;  if  he  derives  it  from  his  grandfather,  he  is  termed 
a  gentleman  of  blood ;  and  if  he  succeeds  to  the  same 
from  his  great-grandfather  or  other  more  distant  pro- 
genitor, he  is  entitled  a  gentleman  of  ancestry ;  if  he 
obtains  the  grant  himself,  he  is  simply  a  gentleman 
of  coat-armor.  From  these  facts  it  is  readily  seen,  that 
■when  once  a  family  is  created  by  a  grant  of  heraldic 
honors,  it  obtains  at  every  remove  from  the  founder  an 
added  dignity  in  the  scale  of  descent,  and  an  acknow- 
ledged precedency  of  worth  and  estimation,  as  compared 
■with  others  of  later  origin.  The  admirers  of  ancient 
blood  look  ■with  comparatively  little  respect  on  arms 
granted  at  a  period  subsequent  to  the  reign  of  the 
Tudors,  and  venerate  -with  an  almost  superstitious  regard 
the  possessors  of  arms  deduced  from  the  asra  of  the 
Plantagenets.  There  are  still  certain  appointments  con- 
nected "with  the  court  -which  can  only  be  filled  by  gentle- 
men of  ancient  families;  and  it  is  much  to  be  regretted 
that  the  good  and  wise  regulation  which  excluded  from 
the  profession  of  tlie  bar  all  but  gentlemen  of  four  descents 
of  coat-armor  was  ever  rescinded."  ^ 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN.      23 

^®^^!££__2L„^J^®  widely  different  from  that 
'^^lli?]^„.'^®^^-^-liI<i--iiMLe_a_^^  to  expect  did 
the  grammatical  relationship  alone  furnish  ns 
with  a  sure  guidance.  These  topics  do  not 
lie  within  the  limits  of  our  inquiry.  Our  en- 
deavor is  to  ascertain  and  dwell  upon  the  no- 
blest and  purest  meaning  which,  consciously 
or  unconsciously,  is  given  to  the  term. — an 
adaptation  which  has  legitimately  developed 
itself  in  the  progress  of  the  race  to  which 
we  belong. 

The  character  of  the  gentleman  produces 
arTequality  of  social  claims,  and  (supersedes 
ran^,' office,  or  titlc^  It  establishes  a  republic 
of  intercourse,  as  we  speak  of  the  republic  of 
letters.  Nowhere  appears,  and  indeed  nowhere 
can  appear,  this  fact  more  strikingly  than  in  the 
mess-room  of  a  British  regiment,  where  the 
colonel  and  the  ensign^  who,  under  arms,  stand 
in  the  relation  of  the  strictest  military,,  dis- 
ciplinCj  meet  on  the  common„grQim.d  of.gentle- 
manly  equality, -an(lfr,e.elyLa„c.aQrd,  t o „e^ah  oth ei* 
the.^riyile.ges. ,  to„  which^ey  ery_  m.einhmLQf  _.the 
great  commonwealth  of  comity  is  fairly  en- 


24  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

titled.  The  character  of  the  gentleman  passes 
the  bounds  of  states  and  tongues,  and,  without 
enfeebling  our  love  of  country  (did  it  so,  we 
would  repudiate  it),  gives  a  passport  acknow- 
ledged through  the  wide  domain  of  civiliza- 
tion. In  antiquity,  almost  every  thing  was 
circumscribed  not  only  by  nationality,  but 
even  by  the  mural  confines  of  the  city ;  in 
modern  times,  the  freemasonry  of  a  liberal 
education,  of  good  manners,  and  propriety  of 
conduct, — in  a  word,  of  a  gentlemanlike  bear-- 
ing, — extends  over  entire  hemispheres.  It  is 
a  sway  which  is  daily  widening.  Turkey  is, 
perhaps,  now  in  the  very  act  of  giving  in  her 
adhesion  to  the  community  of  gentlemanly 
nations. 

In  order  to  place  the  type  of  the  character, 
which  we  are  contemplating,  more  distinctly 
before  your  minds,  I  feel  induced  to  give  you 
the  translation  of  a  passage  which  I  found 
in  a  valuable  French  work,  entitled  "British 
India  in  1843,"  by  Count  Warren.  The  author, 
a  Frenchman,  was  educated  at  Paris,  obtained 
a  lieutenancy  in  a  British  royal  regiment  in 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLE3IAN.  25 

India,  and  served  there  during  nine  years. 
My  translation  is  literal,  and  you  will  remem- 
ber that  the  original  was  written  by  a  French- 
man,— a  consideration  which  gives  p^uhar 
force  to  some  parts,  and  will  induce  you  to 
make  allowance  for  others  on  the  score  of 
French  vivacity.  Count  Warren,  speaking 
of  his  colonel  and  the  aide-de-camp  of  the 
regiment,  says, — 

"  I  found  in  those  two  men  a  type  essen- 
tially English,  and,  at  the  same  time,  a  degree 
of  perfection  to  which  it  is,  perhaps,  not 
given  to  Frenchmen  to  attain.  The  reader 
must  have  seen  that  I  was  not  disposed  to 
view  the  defects  of  English  society  with  too 
indulgent  an  eye ;  I  do  not  compare  it,  for  a 
moment,  with  ours,  as  to  engaging  qualities, 
— urbanity,  kindness,  simplicity, — and  as  to  all 
the  delights  which  can  render  life  happy,  such 
as  grace,  honhomie,  and  charming  manners ; 
but  as  we  do  not  find  the  diamond  in  gold  and 
silver  mines,  but  in  the  layers  of  crumbled 
rocks  and  coarse  sand,  so  do  we  find  the  most 
perfect  type  of  man  buried  deep  in  the  rude 


26 


CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 


elements  of  our  neighbors :  the  perfect  Eng- 
lish gentleman  is  the  Phoenix  of  the  human 
species.  There  is  wanting  in  Frenchmen,  to 
attain  to  this  height,  nothing  but  a  more  ele- 
vated and  intense  sentiment  of  personal  dig- 
nity, a  more  religious  respect  for  the  divine 
part  which  the  Almighty  has  vouchsafed  to 
men.  There  are  few — I  might  say,  there  is 
not  one — among  us,  who  is  a  hero  before  his 
valet-de-chambre*  or  his  most  intimate  friend. 
However  excellent  a  Frenchman  may  be  in 


vv^ 


L 


*  I  cannot  allow  this  passage  to  appear  again  in  print, 
■without  giving  wider  circulation  to  an  excellent  saying, 
which  is  ascribed  to  the  philosopher  Hegel,  however  little 
it  may  seem  to  be  connected  with  the  subject  immediately 
in  hand. 

Great  men  were  spoken  of,  when  some  one  flippantly 
repeated  the  old  saying  that  no  one  is  a  hero  before  his 
valet-de-chambre.  "This  is  true,"  said  Hegel,  "most 
true;  not,  however,  because  no  hero  is  a  hero,  but  be- 
cause a  valet-de-chambre  is  a  valet-de-chambre." 

A  community  sinks  very  low  when  it  loses  the  capa- 
city of  acknowledging  greatness,  and  an  individual  cari- 
catures in  a  despicable  manner  the  calmness  of  a  gentle- 
man, when  he  interprets  the  Horatian  Nil  admirarc  as 
consisting  in  stolid  indifference  to  the  noblest  and  the 
worst  things. 


CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN.  27 

society  before  strangers  or  in  the  presence  of 
ladies,  his  very  bonhomie  causes  him  at  once 
to  lower  himself,  so  soon  as  he  is  alone  with 
the  friend  of  his  heart,  the  companion  of  his 
studies,  the  confidant  or  messenger  of  his  first 
follies.  This  results,  I  shall  be  answered,  from 
an  excess  of  two  good  qualities, — from  our 
absence  of  affectation  and  the  gayety  so  cha- 
racteristic of  the  French  temper ;  but  we  have 
also  generally  the  defects  of  these  two  qua- 
lities,— an  inclination  to  let  ourselves  go  with- 
out restraint,  impurity  of  thought  and  con- 
versation,* exaggeration,  and  harlequinade ^^ 
which  we  are  astonished  to  meet  with  at 
every  moment  in  the  gravest  men  and  best 
minds.  The  perfect  English  gentleman  never 
follows  solely  his  impulses,  and  never  lowers 
himself.  He  carries  conscientiousness  and  the 
remembrance  of  his  dignity  into  the  smallest 
details  of  life.    His  temper  never  betrays  him, 

■^  Grivois  in  the  original,  which  is,  literally  translated, 
smuttiuess. 

f  The  original  is  Harlequinade :  I  could  not  translate 
it  buffoonery. 


28  CHARACTER   OF   THE   GENTLEMAN. 

for  it  is  of  the  same  character  with  his  ex- 
terior; his  house  might  be  of  glass;  every  one 
of  his  acts  can  bear  the  broadest  light  and 
defy  criticism.  From  this  we  see  that  the 
individual,  whom  we  have  delineated,  is  not 
a  product  purely  indigenous :  he  must  under- 
go several  transplantations,  respire  the  air  of 
the  continent,  and  especially  of  France,  in 
order  to  attain  to  perfect  maturity,  and  to  get 
rid  of  certain  qualities  inherent  in  the  native 
soil — disdainfulness,  prejudices,  &c.  But,  if 
education,  circumstances,  and  travel  have 
favored  this  development,  it  is  of  him,  above 
all,  that  we  may  say,  he  is  the  lord  of  crea- 
tion."* 

The  Duchess  of  Abrantes,  as  enthusiasti- 
cally a  French  woman  in  feeling,  opinion, 
and  spirit,  as  ever  loved  la  belle  France, 
says,  in  her  Memoirs,  that  she  must  relate 
an  anecdote  of  Lord  Wellington,  wdien  fight- 

[  *  *'  'Avant  tout  j'e  siiis  gentilhommc  Anfflais,'  was  the 
preface  of  the  fierce  message  sent  by  the  then  (1815) 
foremost  man  of  the  'world  to  the  King  of  France." — 
KiNGLAKE,  Invasion  oj  the  Crimea. 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  29 

ing  against  her  husband  in  S23ain,  "  showing 
him  in  that  favorable  aspect  which  is  really 
the  radiant  light  surrounding  the  true  English 
gentleman."* 

So  far  our  French  authors,  the  first  of  whom 
is  right  in  calling  the  character,  designated 
the  gentleman,  a  type  peculiarly  Anglican. 
It  belongs  to  the  English  race ;  nor  is  it  long 
since  it  has  been  developed  in  its  present  and 
important  form.  Lord  Campbell,  in  his  "  Lives 
of  the  Lord  Chancellors  of  England,"  says 
that  one  of  the  earliest  instances  of  the  word 
gentleman  being  used  in  the  modern  sense 
was  when  in  1640  the  Commons,  unwilling  to 
vote  supplies  to  Charles  I.  before  settling 
their  grievances,  although  the  king  had  pro- 
mised to  give  due  consideration  to  the  latter, 
were  told  by  Lord  Keeper  Finch  that  they 

*  Vol.  ix.  p.  202,  Paris  edition  of  ISSo.Ijt  is  with  pain 
that  now,  in  1863,  the  author  is  obliged  to  add  that  an 
unfortunately  large  number  of  the  English  people  have 
deviated  from  the  course  of  gentlemanly  frankness,  sym- 
pathy, and  largeness  of  heart  towards  a  people  manfully 
struggling  for  their  imperilled  country,  ever  since  our 
civil  war  began.    | 


30     CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN. 

should  freely  vote  the  money,  for  "  they  had 
the  word  of  a  king,  and  not  only  so,  but  the 
word  of  a  gentleman/'*  But  so  occurs  a 
passage  in  Shakspeare  : — "  Sir,  the  king  is  a 
noble  gentleman ;"  and  Pistol  calls  himself,  in 
Henry  Y.,  "  as  good  a  gentleman  as  the  em- 
peror." The  passage,  however,  in  which  the 
poet  seems  to  approach  closest  to  the  modern 
sense  of  the  word,  is  that  in  which  Antonio, 
a  merchant,  is  called  "  a  true  gentleman."f 
Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  throughout 
Shakspeare's  works — that  surprising  pano- 
rama of  human  life — the  term'  gentleman  is 

*  See  note  to  page  561,  vol.  ii.  of  "Lives  of  the  Lord 
Chancellors."  Lord  Byron  distinguishes  in  a  manner 
somewhat  similar  between  nobleman  and  gentleman, 
■when,  in  the  preface  to  Marino  Faliero,  he  observes  that 
"it  is  the  fashion  to  underrate  Horace  Walpole  ;  firstly, 
because  he  was  a  nobleman;  and,  secondly,  because  he 
was  a  gentleman."  In  Prussia,  characteristically  enough, 
the  term  officer  had  acquired  in  some  particulars  the 
meaning  of  man  of  honor,  of  gentleman.  "My  lord 
general,  on  the  word  of  an  officer,  I  am  far  more  of  an 
imperialist  than  a  Hanoverian,"  was  said  by  Frederic 
William  I. — Ranke,  History  of  Prussia,  English  Trans- 
lation, vol.  i.  p.  215. 

f  Merchant  of  Venice,  IIL,  4. 


CHARACTER   OF   THE   GENTLEMAN.  31 

almost  exclusively  used  either  for  nobleman, 
Qr^^man  of  the  higher  classes  "vyith  polished 
and  graceful  manners ;  or  its  meaning  is  in  a 
state  of  transition  between  the  knight  of  high 
and  sensitive  honor,  and  the  modern  gentle- 1 
man;  but  it  hardly  ever  designates  the  true 
modern  gentleman,  although  the  word  occurs 
nearly  five  hundred  times,  according  to  the 
laborious  concordance  for  which  the  public  is 
obliged  to  Mrs)Cowden(Clarke. 

You  will,  of  course,  not  misunderstand  the 
position  I  have  advanced,  that  the  present 
type  of  the  gentleman  is  of  modern  develop- 
ment and  Anglican  origin,  as  if  I  could  mean 
that  there  are  no  true  gentlemen  in  other 
countries,  or  that  there  have  been  none  in 
antiquity.  All  I  can  wish  to  convey  is,  that 
with  other  races,  and  at  other  periods,  the 
character  of  the  gentleman  has  not  developed 
itself  as  a  national  type,  and  as  a  readily 
understood  and  universally  acknowledged 
aggregate  of  certain  substantial  and  lofty 
attributes;  nor  is  there  now,  in  any  other 
language,  a  word  corresponding  in   meaning 


32  CHARACTER    OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 

to  the  word  gentleman,  though  all  of  Latin 
origin  have  \Yord8  of  the  same  etymology. 
Even  in  English,  the  word  gentlewoman  has 
not  followed,  in  the  modification  of  its  mean- 
ing, the  corresponding  change  in  the  signifi- 
cation of  the  term  gentleman,  though  the 
w^ord  lady  has  done  so  upon  the  whole.  The 
French  word  gentilliomme  has  retained  the 
meaning  which  we  give  to  the  English  word 
cavalier. 

Instances  of  gentlemanliness  in  antiquity, 
or  with  other  races,  are  not  wanting.  The 
ancient  Dherma  Sastra  of  the  Hindoos  ordain 
that  a  man  who  loses  a  law-suit  shall  not  be 
liable  to  punishment  if,  in  leaving  the  court, 
he  murmurs  or  openly  rails  against  the  judge, 
— a  law,  it  will  be  acknowledged,  exclusively 
dictated  by  a  spirit  of  gentlemanly  forbear- 
ance. AYhen  Lycurgus  treated  Alcander, 
w^ho  had  put  out  one  of  his  eyes,  with  for- 
bearance and  even  confidence,  he  proved  him- 
self a  gentleman,  as  he  did  towards  his  nephew 
Charilaus,  under  the  most  tempting  eircum- 
Btances.      When    Cicsar,    after   the   battle   at 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  33 

Pharsalia,  burned  the  correspondence  of  Pom- 
pey,  which  might  have  disclosed  to  him  the 
names  of  all  his  personal  and  most  dangerous 
enemies,  he  acted  as  a  gentleman ;  if,  indeed, 
he  did  not  throw  a  secret  glance  at  them, 
which,  from  the  general  tenor  of  his  life,  we 
have,  perhaps,  no  right  to  suppose.  Alexander 
began  his  career  as  a  high-bred  gentleman 
towards  friend  and  foe,  and  could  never  wholly 
disguise  that  nature  had  moulded  him  for  one ; 
but  what  with  withering  absolute  power,  in- 
toxicating victories,  and  riotous  intemj)erance, 
she  was  robbed  of  her  fair  handiwork.  The 
pages  of  Prescott  impress  us  with  the  sad 
belief  that  Montezuma  was  a  gentleman,  but 
he  was  not  treated  as  such;  for  the  Spaniards, 
j)unctiliously  courteous  among  themselves,  did 
not  think  it  necessary  to  bear  themselves  as 
cavaliers — how  rarely  even  as  men  ! — towards 
the  "unbaptized  rabble."  The  French  officer 
who,  in  the  Peninsular  battle,  charged  the  Eng- 
lish commander,  but  merely  saluted  him  when 
he  found  that  the  latter  had  only  the  bridle- 
arm,  and   could   not   fight,  was   assuredly   a 


84  CHARACTER    OF    THE   GENTLEMAN. 

gentleman.*  But  we  speak  here  of  national 
tyj^es,  of  distinct  classes  of  characters,  clearly 
stamj^ed  by  an  imprint  known  and  acknow^- 
ledged  by  the  whole  people;")"  and  as  to  anti- 
quity, we  need  only  remember  the  scurrilous 

I  *  Jotee  Persaud,  a  Parsee  banker,  was  called  by  Lord 
Ellenborough,  years  ago,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  "a  gentle- 
man ;  for  gentleman  he  is,  remarkable  for  his  gentleman- 

f    like  manners  where  all  have  such  manners." 

f  We  have  a  parallel  case  in  the  character  of  the  phi- 
lanthropist. There  were  mild  and  charitable  persons  in 
antiquity.  The  account  of  the  Samaritan  was  felt  and 
understood  by  every  hearer.  The  ancient  Hindoo  law- 
giver, Avho  sublimely  commanded,  "Be  like  the  sandal- 
tree,  which  sheds  perfume  on  the  axe  that  fells  it,"  was 
inspired  with  more  than  mere  philanthropy;  yet  the  type 
of  the  philanthropist,  that  combination  of  attributes 
which  we  associate  with  the  word,  is  a  modern  type,  and 
was  unknown  in  antiquity  or  the  Middle  Ages.  There 
would  be  something  strangely  odd  in  speaking  of  an 
ancient  Roman  philanthropist,  except  it  were  done  for 
the  very  purpose  of  indicating  how  the  individual  in  an- 
tiquity anticipated  the  character  and  stood  alone  in  his 
virtues,  now  connected  with  the  term  philanthropist. 
The  type  of  the  opposition  member  is  another.  There 
were  citizens  in  ancient  times,  as  in  the  ^Middle  Ages, 
who,  though  opposed  to  the  ruling  power,  did  not  brood 
over  sedition  or  revolt:  yet  the  loyal  opposition  member 
is  a  strictly  modern  type, — a  noble  and  indispensable 
type,  yet  fully  developed  only  since  the  times  of  George  L 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GEXTLEMAX.  oO 

invectives  with  which  even  the  first  orators 
did  not  think  it  beneath  them  to  assail  their 
opponents  in  the  Eoman  senate  or  the  Athenian 
ecclesia,  to  be  aware  that,  in  our  times,  a 
member  would  be  instantly  declared  out  of 
order  and  put  down,  were  he  to  make  use 
of  similar  language  and  resort  to  equal  per- 
sonalities, even  in  assemblies  in  which,  to  the 
detriment  of  public  tone  and  public  service, 
deviations  from  parliamentary  decorum  no 
longer  form  rare  exceptions.  Falsehood  did 
not  disgrace  with  the  ancients,  as  it  does  with 
modern  free  nations. 

It  does  not  appear  difficult  to  account  for 
the  fact  that  the  peculiar  character  which  we 
call  the  gentleman  should  be  of  comparatively 
late  development,  and  have  shown  itself  first 
fully  developed  with  the  English  peoj)le.  Each 
of  the  various  constituents  of  this  character 
required  peculiar  social  conditions  to  come  to 
maturity.  The  ^liddle  Ages  were  at  times — 
though  not  so  often  as  is  frequently  supposed 
— sufficiently  favorable  to  tjie  development  of 
chivalrous  honor  under  the  united  influence 


Xil 


36     CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN. 

of  an  active  love  of  individual  independence^ 
and  a  softening  reverence  for  the  softer  sex. 
But  one  of  the  j^ervading  characteristics  of 
those  angry  times  was  that  of  exclusive  pri- 
vilege, contradistinguished  from  a  broad  ac- 
knowledgment of  the  rights  of  all  and  a  willing 
recognition  of  humanity  in  every  one, — shown 
even  in  a  graduated  duty  of  allegiance.  Me- 
disBval  liberty  was  almost  always  a  chartered 
one,  extorted  by  him  who.had  the  j)ower  to 
extort,  and  grudged  by  him  who  had  not  the 
power  to  withhold.  Modern  liberty,  on  the 
contrary,  is  constitutional,  that  is,  national, 
recognizing  rights  in  all,  covering  the  land, 
and  compassing  the  power-holder  himself 
The  ideal  of  modern  liberty  is  that  it  be 
broadcast  3  the  ideal  of  mediaeval  freedom  was 
that  of  the  highest  amount  and  complex  of 
privileges.  Each  privilege  begets  the  desire 
of  another  in  those  who  are  deprived  of  it, 
and  the  idea  of  prh^ilciyc  implies  that  of  ex- 
clusive'^ef^;  but  that  mediaeval  exehisivenoss, 
and  the  constant  feuds  and  appeals  to  the 
sword,  prevented  the  growth  of  the  collected 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  37 

calmness,  ready  forbearance,  and  kind  reci- 
procity which  we  have  acknowledged  as  ne- 
cessary elements  of  the  modern  gentleman. 

Later  j)eriods,  especially  in  the  progress 
of  manners  in  France,  were  propitious  to  the 
development  of  refinement  and  a  polished 
deportment;  but  it  was  at  the  cost  of  moral- 
ity, and  took  place  under  a  daily  growing 
despotism,  which  in  its  very  nature  is  adverse 
to  mutual  reliance  and  acknowledgment,  to 
candor  and  dignity  of  character,  however 
favorable  it  may  be  to  stateliness  of  carriage. 
Veracity  is  a  plant  which  grows  in  abundance 
on  the  soil  of  civil  liberty  alone,  and  even 
there  not  always.  The  character  of  the  gen- 
tleman, such  as  we  now  cherish  it,  was  not, 
therefore,  fairly  developed,  before  the  popular 
institutions  and  a  broader  civil  liberty  in  Eng- 
land added  a  more  general  consciousness  of 
rights,  with  their  acknowledgment  in  others, 
a  general  esteem  for  candor,  self-respect,  and 
dignity,  together  with  native  English  manli- 
ness and  calmness,  to  the  spirit  of  chivalry 
which,  in  some  degree,  was  still  traditional  in 


UNIVERSITY 


o5  CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 

the  aristocracy,  and  to  the  courtesy  of  man- 
ners which  perhaps  had  been  adopted  from 
abroad.  The  character  of  the  cavalier  was 
essentially  aristocratic;  that  of  the  gentleman 
is  rather  of  a  popular  cast,  or  of  a  civic  na- 
ture, and  shows  in  this,  likewise,  that  it  belongs 
to  modern  times.  The  cavalier  distinguished 
himself  by  his  dress, — ^by  plume,  lace,  and  cut; 
the  gentleman  shuns  external  distinction,  and 
shows  his  refinement  within  the  limits  of  plain 


The  development  of  this  type  is  owing,  in 
a  great  measure,  to  the  fact,  important  in  all 
branches  of  English  history,  that,  accurately 
and  lcg:ally  speaking,  there  is  no  nobleman  in 
England.  There  are  peers,  but  their  sons  are 
commoners.     They  had  the  aristocratic  breed- 


ing, lofty  aspirations,  and  also  the  aristocratic 
disdain  :  still  they  were  legally  common  citi- 
zens, and  in  a  generation  or  two  became,  fre- 
quently, practically  so.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  large  landholder,  though  undistinguished 
by  nobility,  felt,  descending  as  he  often  did 
from   the   Norman    conquerors,  that   he   was 


CHARACTER   OF   THE   GENTLEMAN.  39 

what  the  nobleman  on  the  continent  was, 
where  his  name  would  infallibly  have  been 
distinguished  by  that  particle  which  desig- 
nates the  nobleman.  Yet  the  richest  land- 
holder, if  not  made  a  peer,  was  the  plain  Mr. 
A.  or  B.  Here  was  the  middle  ground :  this 
formed  the  palpable  transition. 

I  find  a  book,  of  which  the  twelfth  edition 
was  published  as  late  as  the  year  1755,  with 
the  title,  "The  Gentleman  Instructed  in  the 
Conduct  of  a  Yirtuous  and  Happy  Life. 
Written  for  the  Instruction  of  a  Young  Noble- 
man. To  which  is  added  a  Word  to  the  Ladies. 
In  two  volumes.'^ 

The  title  illustrates  what  I  have  said;  and 
throughout  the  work  the  term  gentleman 
means  a  person  of  high  birth  or  standing  in 
society.*  The  moral  reflections  consist  in 
urging  the  necessity  that  the  gentleman  should 
in  conduct  and  virtue  rise  to  this  elevation, 
already  existing,  and  making  him  the  gentle- 
man. 


*  Dr.  Johnson's   definitions   of    the   word   gentleman 

show  the  same. 

4 


40     CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN. 

r  The   character  of  the   gentleman   includes 

•  whatever  was  valuable   in   the   cavalier   and 

•  the  earlier  knight,  but  it  stands  above  him, 
even  with  reference  to  that  very  element 
which  constituted  a  chief  attribute  of  the 
cavalier, — to  honor.  Untarnished  honor  de- 
pends in  a  great  measure  upon  truthfulness; 
and  it  is  a  cheering  fact,  that  the  world  has 
become  more  candid  within  the  last  two 
centuries.  The  details  of_the  history  of  do- 
mestic intercourse,  of  traffic,  of  judicial  trans- 
actions and  bribes,  of  parliamentary  proce- 
dures, of  high  politics  and  international  affairs, 
bear  us  out  in  this  position,  however  painfully 
we  may  even  now,  far  too  frequently,  be  forced 
to  observe  infractions  of  the  sacred  law  of 
plain-dealing,  religious  candor,  and  gentle- 
manly veracit}lin  individuals  and  in  govern- 
mentg.3 

In  ascribing  greater  veracity  to  the  people 

I  *  Truthfulness  obliges  us  to  add  that  the  meaning  of  the 

last  remark  has  become  sadly  intensified  within  the  last 
ten  years.  May  it  be  but  a  transient  reflux  in  the  general 
progress  of  humanity  ! — [Added  in  the  year  1SG3.] 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN.     41 

of  free  countries  in  modern  times,  I  may 
appear  to  gainsay  other  and  distinguished 
writers.  Montaigne  actually  says,  that  we 
moderns  punish  the  charge  of  a  lie  so  severely, 
which  the  ancients  did  not,  because  we  lie 
habitually  much  more,  and  must  save  appear- 
ances. But  Montaigne  wrote  in  France,  at 
an  evil  period;  and  we  may  well  ask,  besides, 
whether  antiquity  with  all  its  details  was  vivid 
in  his  mind  when  he  penned  that  passage.  If 
the  position  I  have  advanced  be  wrong,  I  have, 
at  any  rate,  not  hastily  come  to  it.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  there  is  at  present  more  truth  in 
the  intercourse  of  men,  although  we  speak 
and  write  less  bluntly.  Who  has  studied 
history  without  meeting  occasionally  with 
acts  of  deception,  which  we  find  it  difficult 
to  understand,  because  at  present  public 
opinion  would  frown  upon  them  and  utterly 
disgrace  their  authors  ?  /  When  in  modern 
times  a  flagrant  act  of  "acTJourned  veracity" 
has  been  detected,  the  peccant,  though  they 
be  emperors,  show  themselves  anxious  to  re- 
move the  stain.     Were  there  not  times  when 


\ 


42  CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 

high  officers  and  statesmen  gloried  in  success- 
ful deception  ?  AYe  are  not,  individually, 
better  before  an  omniscient  eye,  that  sees  all 
our  potential  crimes  and  vices;  but  public 
opinion  keeps  us  straighter  and  accustoms  us 
to  better  things.  And  public  opinion  has  ac- 
quired this  power,  because  it  can  widely  speak 
out,  from  nation  to  nation. 

Let  me  give  you  a  striking  instance  how 
lightly  veracity  was  held  in  those  times,  so 
frequently  called  chivalrous.  I,  with  many 
thousands,  revere  the  memory  of  Dante, — of 
him  who  stands  with  Homer  and  Shakspeare 
in  the  foremost  line  of  the  high-priests  of  song. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  have  ever  read  with 
deep  aversion  the  occurrence  with  Friar  Al- 
berigo,  in  his  Inferno, — an  eminently  ethical 
poem, — indeed,  that  of  the  great  poems  pro- 
duced by  our  race  in  Avhich  morality  forms  as 
active  and  producive  an  element,  as  heroism 
in  Homer;  Man,  in  all  his  phases  of  action 
and  in  his  various  types,  in  Shakspeare;  or  the 
individual,  in  liis  subjective  enjoyment  and 
suffering,  in  Goethe. 


CHARACTER   OP   THE   GENTLEMAN.  43 

In  this  immortal  poem,  Dante  sings,  that  he 
came  to  a  frozen  lake  in  which  the  damned 
siiifer  from  everlasting  cold  and  have  their 
first  tears  frozen  in  their  eyes,  so  that  all  the 
others  which  the  lost  ones  ever  weep  burn 
inwardly.  There  he  asks  one  of  the  despond- 
ing who  he  is.  The  suffering  sinner  begs  him 
first  to  remove  his  frozen  tears,  that  for  once 
he  may  enjoy  the  long-missed  luxury  of 
weeping, — weeping  a  little  only.  First,  re- 
plies Dante,  tell  me  who  thou  art,  and  then  I 
will  do  thy  desire,  "  and  if  I  do  not  extricate 
thee,  may  I  have  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  the 
ice."  The  wretched  convict  of  hell  confides, 
tells  his  story,  and  piteously  adds,  "I^ow 
reach  thy  hand  and  open  my  eyes;"  but  Dante 
says,  "And  I  opened  them  not  for  him,  and  to 
be  rude  to  him  was  courtesy."  Thus  repre- 
senting himself  in  a  song  he  knew  he  was 
singing  for  all  his  country  and  for  posterity, 
in  an  act  of  meanness*  that  must  shock  every 

■^  Nor  does  Dante  present  himself  more  as  a  gentleman 
in  the  thirty-second  canto,  where  he  describes  himself  as 

pulling  out  the  hair  of  Bocca. 

4* 


44  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

candid  man.  It  is  not  "  sickly  philanthropy" 
in  us  that  makes  us  feel  thus ;  it  was  not  over- 
wrought religion  in  Dante  that  could  induce 
him  thus  to  represent  himself:  it  was  a  mor- 
bidness produced  by  harsh  dogmas,  such  as  we 
find  it  again  and  in  action,  in  the  Spaniards 
towards  the  Mexicans  and  Peruvians,  that 
could  cause  Dante  to  sing  his  own  abandon- 
ment of  veracity,  of  pity,  and  a  sinner's  sym- 
pathy  with  sinners  forever  lost. 

Where  so  many  distinct  attributes,  held  in 
high  and  common  esteem,  are  blended  into 
one  character,  we  must  be  prepared  to  meet 
with  corresponding  caricatures  or  mimick- 
ing impersonations  of  trifling  dispositions  and 
depraved  passions.  All  noble  things  have 
tlicir  counterfeits,  and  every  great  idea  or 
exalted  type  has  its  caricature  in  history.  So 
is  the  saint's  counterfeit  the  hypocrite;  the 
patriot  is  caricatured  in  the  demagogue;  the 
thrifty  husband  in  the  miser;  the  frank  com- 
panion in  the  gossip;  the  chaste  in  the  prude; 
the  sincere  reformer  in  the  reckless  Jacobin, 
and  the  cautious  statesman  or  firm  believer  in 


CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN.  45 

the  necessity  of  progressive  iniprovement,  dis- 
trusting abrupt  changes,  in  the  idolater  of 
the  past  and  the  Chinese  worshipper  of  the 
forefathers.  In  a  similar  manner,  we  find  the  \ 
sensitive^ honorjpf  the  gentleman  counterfeited 
in  the  touchy  duellist;  his  courage  by  the 
arrant  bully;  his  calmness  of  mind  by  super- 
cilious indifference,  or  a  fear  of  betraying  even 
the  purest  emotions ;  his  refinement  of  feeling  ^ 
by  sentimentality  or  affectation ;  his  polished 
manners  by  a  punctilious  observance  of  trivial 
forms ;  his  ready  compliance  with  conventional 
forms,  in  order  to  avoid  notice  or  giving  offence 
to  others,  or  his  natural  habit  of  moving  in 
those  forms  which  have  come  to  be  established 
among  the  accomplished,  by  the  silly  hunter 
after  new  fashions,  or  a  censurable  and  en- 
feebling love  of  approbation;  his  liberality  by 
the  spendthrift;  his  dignity  and  self-resj)ect 
by  conceit  or  a  dogged  resistance  to  the  ac- 
knowledgment of  error  or  wrong ;  his  candor 
by  an  ill-natured  desire  of  telling  unwelcome 
truths ;  his  freedom  from  petulance  by  incapa- 
city of  enthusiasm;  his  composure  by  egotism, 


/ 


46  CHARACTER   OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

and  his  aversion  from  vulgarity  by  a  pretended 
horror  at  coming  in  contact  with  fellow-men  of 
a  diiferent  set  or  class,  and  by  an  indifference 
to  the  motives  Avhich  incite  vast  masses  to 
action,  in  the  same  proportion  as  these  mo- 
tives are  general.  But  these  reflections  from 
distorting  mirrors  do  not  detract  from  the  real 
worth  and  the  important  attributes  of  the 
well-proportioned  original ;  nor  can  it  be  said 
that  this  character  has  been  set  up  as  a  purely 
ethical  model  in  spite  of  religion.  I  am  con- 
vinced that  it  was  possible  to  conceive^  this 
character  in  its  fulness  only  by  the  aid  of 
Christianity,  and  believe — I  say  it  with  bow- 
ing reverence — that  in  Him  to  whom  we  look 
for  the  model  of  every  perfection  we  also  find 
the  perfect  type  of  that  character  which  oc- 
cupies our  attention. 

It  seems,  then,  plain  that,  in  placing  before 
us  the  character  of  the  gentleman  as  one  of 
the  models  of  excellence,  we  do  not  allow  the 
nimble  hand  of  neomaniac  fashion  to  substitute 
a  puny  idol,  decked  with  tinsel  imitations  of 
substantial    gold,   for   the   true    and    lasting 


CHARACTER   OP    THE    GENTLEMAN.  47 

patterns  of  virtue  and  religion ;  nor  can  you 
fail  to  perceive  the  vast  practical  importance 
of  an  active,  ready,  inward  gentlemanliness, ' 
from  which  a  gentlemanlike  conduct  as  natu- 
rally results  as  the  spontaneous  effect  from 
any  healthy  organism. 

In  all  spheres  of  our  lives  there  occur  many 
acts  of  so  complex  a  nature,  that,  if  they  are 
submitted  to  a  long  process  of  reasoning, 
which  possibly  may  appear  the  more  impartial 
the  more  heartlessly  it  is  undertaken,  they 
will  allow  of  a  perplexing  number  of  argu- 
ments for  and  against,  of  bewildering  prece- 
dents on  either  side,  and  of  distinctions  more 
embarrassing  than  unravelling,  so  that  in  the 
end  we  see  our  way  less  clearly  than  at  the 
beginning, — acts  from  which,  nevertheless,  a 
mind  instinct  with  genuine  gentlemanliness 
will  shrink  at  once,  as  being  of  doubtful  can- 
dor, dangerous  to  honor,  of  suspicious  honesty, 
or  inclining  to  what  is  illiberal  or  undigni- 
fied. No  merchant  or  artisan,  no  advocate, 
statesman,  teacher,  or  minister, — no  citizen,  in 
whatever   circle   he  may  move — no  husband 


48  CHARACTER   OP   THE   GENTLEMAN. 

or  friend,  none  of  you,  in  your  preparatory 
spheres,  can  avoid  being  called  upon  promptly 
to  decide  in  cases  of  this  nature.     Actssome- 

what  jdngyirad^mtb.-J^hfl.f.  -yy^  ijYmilrl  nnll  nr^ 
handsome,  or  slij^htly  tainted  with  what  mq^y 
be  mean,  cannot  always  be  distinctly  discerned 
as  such  by  the  reasoning  faculties;  and  yet 
such  acts  are  dangerous,  because  they  are  in- 
fusions of  impurity  into  our  soul,  where  nothing 
is  at  rest,  but  every  thing,  good  or  evil,  is  in 
constant  assimilating  activity,— a  psychologi- 
cal law  which  is  subject  to  far  fewer  exceptions, 
if  any,  than  the  corresponding  law  of  assimi- 
lation of  matter  in  the  animal  body. 

History  is  full  of  these  instances ;  daily  life 
surrounds  us  with  them;  and  although  the 
purcjjrhiciples  as  well  as  precepts  of  reliirion 
are  invaluable,  and  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  all  ethic  vitality,  and  for  which  indeed  you 
can  find  no  substitute,  search  where  you  may, 
yet  a  keen  andUnsti^tlv^.  sense  and  o-lowiiiu: 
love  of  honor,  watchful  and  prompt  sclt-re- 
Bpcct,jind  habitual  recoiling  from  what  is  low, 
vulgar,  coarse,  and  base  in  thought,  I'eeling, 


CHARACTER   OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  49 

deed,  or  manner,  form  an  active  moral  coeffi- 
cient, or,  if  I  may  say  so,  an  additional  faculty 
quickly  to  receive  impressions,  upon  which. 
religiou8~conswoWness~<Jecides  and  works. 

Young  gelitTem~en,'X_cl^ai^^ 
tellect  js,  in  the  perce|Jtion  and  application  of 
moral  truths,  as  important  as  in  any  other 
sphere  of  though^j)r  actionjjbut  the  general 
state  of  the  soul  and  the  frame  of  mind  are 
ofVgreater  importance  j  while  no  one  will  deny 
that"  gentlemanship,  taken  in  the  sense  in 
which  the  word  has  been  used  here,  contri- 
butes to  a  pure  general  frame  of  mind.  For- 
getting the  primary  importance  of  the  purity 
of  the  soul,  and  the  belief  that  the  morality 
of  human  acts  is  ascertained  by  a  minute 
weighing  of  their  possible  effects  upon  others, 
and  not  upon  the  actor  himself,  or  by  subtle 
definitions  of  the  millions  of  acts  which  may 
occur  in  our  lives,  is  one  of  the  radical  and 
besetting  vices  of  the  Jesuitical  casuists,  of 
an  Escobar,  Sa,  Busenbaum,  Bauny,  Suarez, 
and  innumerable  other  doctores  graves,  as  they 
are  styled  by  their  own  order, — a  vice  which 


50  CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 

led  them  to  rear  their  amazing  system  of  tur- 
pitude, in  ethics,  and  of  teaching  the  most 
absolute  and  abject  obedience  to  religious 
superiors,  and  at  times  the  most  disorganiz- 
ing doctrines  in  j)olitics.*  I 

It  will  be  scarcely  necessary  here  to  men- 
tion the  question,  unfortunately  still  at  times 
moved,  whether  a  man  be  safe  if  he  make  the 
law  of  the  land  the  sole  standard  of  his  moral 
conduct.  To  put  this  question  shows  the 
utmost  confusion  of  morals  and  politics,  of 
the  righteous  and  the  legal,  of  the  law  written 
in  our  heart  and  the  statute  printed  in  the 
book;  of  the  commandments  of  virtue,  the 
resistance  to  which  must  remain  possible,  or 
we  should  lose  our  moral  character,  and  the 
ordinances  of  civil  authority,  which  must  be 
enforced  and  complied  with,  though  it  be  only 

..^^  Ellendorf,  a  Catholic  priest,  mentions  three  hundred 
^  of  these  doctores  graves  in  his  work,  Morals  and  Poll-  \ 
'  tics  of  the  Jesuits,  according  to  the  Writings  of  the  most 
renowned  theological  Authors  of  this  Order,  with  the 
motto:  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.  Darmstadt, 
1840.  It  is  of  all  Catholic  works  far  the  severest  against 
the  Jesuits  with  which  I  am  acquainted.  _ 


CHARACTER   OF    THE    GENTLEI 

because  a  j)enalty  threatens  the  transgressor; 
of  the  codes  by  which  fellow-men  judge  a  few 
acts  of  ours  here  beneath,  and  that  one  code 
by  which  our  Maker  judges  our  whole  soul 
above.  It  shows  a  confusion  of  the  highest 
moral  idea — holiness — with  a  written  specifi- 
cation of  prohibited  acts;  and  it  simply  proves 
that  he  w^ho  can  put  this  question  does  not 
know  what  the  object  of  government  is.  But 
it  seems  to  be  certain  that,  comprehensive  as 
this  error  is,  a  clear  perception  of  the  obliga- 
tions of  the  gentleman  is  one  of  the  safeguards 
against  falling  into  it.  There  are  thousands 
of  actions  which  a  srentleman  cannot  find  the 


heart  to  perform,  although  the  law  of  the 
land  would  permit  them,  and  ought  to  permit 
them,  lest  an  intermeddling  despotism  should 
stifle  all  freedom  of  action.  Political  and 
positive  laws  are  not  intended  to  be  substi- 
tutes for  our  conscience,  or  the  sole,  or  even 
the  chief,  guides  of  our  conduct  through  life. 

A  man  may  be  a  heartless  husband,  a  cruel 
or  foolish  father,  a  degenerate  son,  an  unfeel- 
ing brother,  an  ungrateful  pupil,  or  an  undutiful 


62  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

teacher;  he  may  be  a  careless  guardian,  an 
irksome  neighbor,  a  hard  creditor,  or  worth- 
less citizen  and  unprincipled  politician;  he 
may  be  uncharitable,  coarse,  captious,  indo- 
lent, mean,  false,  cowardly,  selfish,  sordid,  and 
fanatical;  he  may  be  intemperate,  obscene, 
and  impious ;  he  may  be  morally  and  physic- 
ally repulsive  in  ever}?"  way,  and  a  hundred 
times  worse  than  many  Avhom  the  law  has 
justly  struck;  and  yet  he-  may  pass  through 
life  unscathed  by  justice,  possibly  for  the  very 
reason  that  he  is  a  mean  and  selfish  man,  who 
knows  well  how  to  subordinate  his  passions 
to  calculating  egotism.  Justice  and  liberty 
cease  that  moment  when  the  law  strikes 
aught  but  palpable  acts;  yet  a  person  luay 
leisurely  travel  the  whole  round  of  infamy 
and  still  guardedly  keep  from  within  striking- 
distance  of  the  law.  It  ought  to  be  so ;  but 
the  law  does  not  sustain  infamy  on  that  ac- 
count :  the  law  is  not  the  code  of  our  soul ; 
the  constable  is  not  the  substitute  for  our 
conscience. 

My  young  friends,  if  you  apply  the  charac- 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  53 

teristics  of  the  gentleman,  as  I  have  felt  my- 
self justified  and  obliged  to  point  them  out, 
to  man's  practical  course,  you  will  find,  first, 
as  to  our  daily  life  and  personal  intercourse, 
that  the  calmness  of  mind,  which  we  have 
acknowledged  as  a  constituent  of  the  charac- 
ter of  the  gentleman,  naturally  leads  him  to 
use  temperate  language,  and  prevents  him  from 
indulging  in  careless  vulgarity,  unmanly  ex- 
aggeration, |or\i^leni_coai  Dealing  in 
superlatives,  substituting  extravagant  figures 
of  speech  for  arguments  or  facts, ^  and  inter- 
weaving our  discourse  with  words  of  the 
gravest  import  used  as  profane  expletives, 
while  it  shows  want  of  taste,  proves  also  a  con- 
sciousness of  weakness,' which  may  consist  in 
the  character  of  the  speaker  and  the  argument, 
or  in  his  habitual  perception  that  he  is  not 
able  fully  and  forcibly  to  deliver  his  thoughts 
and  feelings.  Men  who  are  in  the  habit  of 
thinking  clearly,  and  have  learned  to  speak 
promptly,  perspicuously,  and  vigorously,  are 
not  those  who  deal  in  profane  invocations  or 
revolting  imprecation ;  and  it  is  an  attribute 


54     CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN. 

of  the  aceomplislied  gentleman  to  deliver 
himself  with  propriety  and  to  speak  well, 
"there  being  nothing  more  becoming  a  gen- 
tleman, nor  more  useful  in  all  the  occurrences 
of  life,  than  to  be  able  on  any  occasion  to 
speak  well  and  to  the  purpose."  These  are 
the  words  of  a  wise  man  and  a  shrewd  ob- 
server,— of  Locke  in  his  "  Essay  on  Education ;'' 
and  if  perhaps  the  philosopher  alludes,  in  this 
passage,  more  particularly  to  speeches  and 
debates  proper,  I  must  beg  you  to  observe 
likewise  that,  important  though  they  be,  the 
daily  conversation  is  more  important,  as  the 
comfort,  decency,  and  salubrity  of  the  com- 
mon dwellings  of  men  are  still  more  import- 
ant than  the  chaste  propriety  or  lofty  style  of 
public  edifices.  The  kindness  of  his  feeling 
prevents  him  from  vaunting;  moroseness  and 
asperity  are  foreign  to  him;  and  his  for- 
bearance as  well  as  generosity  make  him 
the  safe  keeper  of  secrets,  even  without  the 
special  exaction  of  secrecy.  lie  is  not  med- 
dlesome; and  it  is  a  principle  with  him  not 
only  to  keep  positive  secrets,  but  to  abstain 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  55 

from  talking  about  the  personal  affairs  of 
others  as  a  general  rule,  to  be  suspended 
only  when  there  is  a  positive  and  specific 
reason  for  so  doing.  The  discourse  of  the  gen- 
tleman turns  chiefly  upon  facts,  not  persons. 
He  keej^s  a  secret,  even  though  it  give  him 
power  over  an  antagonist,  because  a  secret 
of  this  kind  is  power,  and  a  generous  use  of 
all  power  is  one  of  the  essential  attributes  of 
the  true  gentleman.  K"or  does  he  indicate 
that  he  possesses  a  secret;  for  doing  so  is 
vanity,  and  conceit  and  vanity  are  undignified 
and  lower  the  person  that  harbors  them.  His 
polish  makes  him  the  civil  attendant  upon  the 
weaker  sex,  but  his  essential  refinement  does 
not  allow  him  to  carry  this  necessary  element 
of  all  civilization  to  a  degree  of  caricature,  in 
treating  women  as  if  they  were  incapable  of 
argument,  and  must  forego  the  privilege  of 
being  dissented  from,  or  of  arriving  at  truth 
by  their  own  reasoning.  He  shows  instinctive 
deference  to  old  age,  and  respect  to  superior 
authority.  In  discussions,  he  shows  his  true 
character  not  only  by  his   calmness  and  by 

5« 


\ 


56  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

abstaining  from  offensive  positiveness,  but 
also  by  the  fairness  of  bis  arguments.  He 
does  not  recur  to  those  many  fallacies  which, 
though  they  belong  to  vulgar  minds,  or  whose 
employment  shows  that  we  consider  our  ad- 
versaries as  such,  are,  nevertheless,  not  with- 
out effect  in  brisk  disputes.  The  well-bred 
gentleman  gladly  seizes  upon  those  minor  yet 
delicate  attentions  which,  though  apparently 
trifling,  are  cheering  tokens  of  a  friendly 
heart,  and  may  be  compared  to  graceful 
flowerets  growing  by  the  roadside  of  the 
rugged  and  toilsome  path  of  life.  His  habitual 
candor  will  make  him,  to  use  a  familiar  term, 
"  off-hand"  in  his  intercourse  with  friends;  he 
delights  in  serving  others,  and,  in  turn,  feels 
the  luxury  of  being  grateful.  Above  all,  it 
pains  him  to  give  pain  ;  and  he  does  and  feels 
all  that  we  have  mentioned,  without  affecta- 
tion, selfishness,  or  pedantry. 

Let  us,  on  the  other  hand,  apply  our  prin- 
ciples to  some  of  the  most  prominent  profes- 
sions or  situations  in  practical  life,  such  as  it 
has  formed  itself  with  our  race.     "Whichever 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  57 

field,  young  gentlemen,  you  may  choose  for 
your  future  labors  in  practical  life,  it  is  ne- 
cessary that  you  carry  the  standard  of  the 
gentleman  with  you,  and  that  now,  ere  the 
manifold  temptations  of  busy  life  beset  you, 
you  fix  it  firmly  in  your  soul  by  daily  prac- 
tice. 

Those  of  you  who  intend  to  become  (divines^ 
must  remember  that  the  importance  and  very 
meaning  of  the  minister's  calling  are  founded 
upon  a  constant  intercourse  with  men  whom 
he  has  to  teach,  to  guide,  to  save, — an  in- 
tercourse depending  for  its  usefulness  upon 
the  confidence  reposed  in  his  sincerity  of  faith, 
jnirity  of  morals,  prudence,  and  honorable 
bearing.  You  will  have  no  other  power  to 
support  you.  The  government  does  not  build 
your  churches.  If  a  congregation  are  con- 
vinced that  their  pastor  is  a  true  Christian,  a 
learned  divine,  and  a  perfect  gentleman,  he 
has  the  strongest  hold  on  their  confidence  in 
him.  He  must  not  forget  that  the  pulpit 
gives  him  a  periodical  and  frequent  opportu- 
nity  of  speaking  to  laro-e  numbers  without 


58  CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 

reply.  This  isypowcrj  and  requires,  like  every 
power,  to  be  wielded  in  a  gentlemanlike  man- 
ner, if  its  possessor  wishes  to  secure  himself 
against  his  own  abuse  of  it.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  divine  descends  into  the  arena  of 
controversy, — which,  however  undesirable,  it 
does  not  always  dej^end  upon  him  to  avoid, — 
he  can  hardly  inflict  a  severer  injury  upon  his 
sacred  cause  than  hy  exhibiting  to  the  world, 
and  calling  forth  in  his  adv-ersaries,  bitterness 
of  spirit,  unfairness  of  argument,  or  passion- 
ate, gross,  and  abusive  language, — in  short,  the 
conduct  "  unbecoming  a  gentleman."  The 
great  cause  of  the  Eeformation  was  immea- 
surably injured  by  the  undignified  and  even 
scurrilous  character  of  many  controversial 
writings  on  both  sides,  in  a  degree  which 
makes  us  still  bear  the  consequences,  and 
which  greatly  interfered  with  the  ditfusion  of 
truth  over  Europe.  Let  no  one  persuade  you 
that  this  vehemence,  as  the  ungentlemanly 
bitterness  and  rudeness  are  sometimes  called 
by  way  of  euphemism,  was  necessary  against 
violent  enemies,  and  according  to  the  spirit 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  59 

of  the  times.  It  is  as  bigoted  as  to  say  that 
so  selfish  and  sanguinary  a  despot  as  Henry 
YIII.  was  necessary  to  break  up  the  convents. 
ISTo  gi^eat  and  enduring  cause  stands  in  need 
of  low  or  iniquitous  means;  and  every  low, 
vulgar,  or  heartless  word  engenders  two  and 
three  in  reply.  That  which  is  great  and  true 
is  best  promoted  by  means  high  and  pure. 

Others  of  you  will  enter  the  profession  of 
the(law?j  They  will  avoid  many  dangers  in- 
cident to  this  profession,  by  loyally  adhering 
to  the  character  of  the  gentleman.  The_ ad- 
vocate, in  our  country  and  in  England,  enjoys 
high  privileges, — that  is,7powery  Probably  it 
is  not  desirable  or  feasible  to  check  its  abuse 
in  all  cases :  at  any  rate,  as  matters  stand,  he 
can  frequently  abuse  it  without  the  proba- 
bility of  being  restrained.  It  becomes,  there- 
fore, the  more  necessary  that  he  check  him- 
self. I  do  not  now  speak  of  that  in  a  lawyer's 
practice  which  is  censurable  upon  the  broad 
and  immutable  principles  of  morality,  and 
from  w^hich  the  profession  of  the  advocate 
does  no  more  absolve  than  any  other  calling. 


60  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

What  a  degradation  of  the  lawyer  if,  lilic  the 
Japanese  wife,  he  were  incapable  of  doing 
wrong  !*  Nor  do  I  speak  of  "  those  too  com- 
mon faults,"  as  the  great  lawyer  Matthew 
Hale  said,  "  of  misrepresenting  evidence,  quot- 
ing precedents  or  books  falsely,  or  asserting 
any  thing  confidently  by  which  ignorant  juries 
or  weak  judges  are  too  often  wrought  upon/'f 
I  believe  these  trespasses  are  now  far  rarer. 
Nor  shall  I  dwell  upon  the  fact  that  a  gentle- 
manly spirit  must  needs  be  a  safeguard  against 
becoming  a  "leguleius  quidam  cautus  et  acu- 
tus,  pra^co  actionum,  cantor  formularum,  au- 
ceps  syllabarura."J  The  pettifogger  and  the 
legicrepa,  as  the  Low  Latin  had  it,  are  the 
opposites  to  the  gentleman  advocate, — one  of 
the  finest  types  of  the  citizen  of  a  free  country". 
Nor  need  I  mention  that  it  is  incumbent 
upon  a  judge  to  move  scrupulously  within  the 


*  But,  then,  the  Japanese  husband  is  answerable  for 
his  wife;  who  is  answerable  for  the  advocate? 

f  Burnet's  Life  of  Sir  ^Litthew  Hale,  p.  72. 

J  Cicero,  in  Oratore,  fragm.  ap.  Augustin  I,  3  contra 
Acad.  c.  7. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN.      61 

limits  of  the  gentleman,  if  it  be  incumbent 
upon  any  one  in  the  wide  range  of  civilized 
society.  I  pass  over  all  this,  as  plainly  ob- 
vious; but  I  must  mention  to  you,  inexpe- 
rienced as  you  are,  that  lawyers  not  unfre- 
quently,  here  as  well  as  in  England,  allow  their 
zeal  for  the  client  or  the  prosecution  to  make 
them  visibly  swerve  from  the  path  of  the 
gentleman. 

However  close  and  searching  your  examina- 
tion  of  a  witness  may  be,  you  are  bound  by 
all  the  laws  of  ^oralit;^by  all  the  principles 
of  high-mindedness,  and  by  the  meaning  of 
the  institution  of  the  advocate  itself,  to  behave 
as  gentlemen  towards  him  whom  the  laws  of 


y7rrnr-TT^n>m~et;£jrlace  for  a3Img-jji  an  irksome 
sTtuatTon  ihd  make  dependent  upon  yoq/.  You 
are  bound  by  all  thafis  sacred  and  gentlemanly 
not  to  use -those  mftans  and  artifices  towards  a 
helpless  and  uneducated  witness,  which  a  wit- 
ness of  education  and  standing  would  quickly 
stop  by  an  appeal  to  the  bench.  You  are  bound 
to  follow  the  plain  and  direct  dictates  of  an 
ingenuous  man,  in  the  simplicity  of  his  heart, 


OF  Tl 

ive: 

^  CALM 


lA--^ 


62  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

and  clearly  to  remember  that  the  p^^actlce  of 
every  profession,  be  it  that  of  the  lawyer,  the 
army,  the  church,  the  author,  the  phygidan,  the 
nayy,  or  any  other,  has  a  natural  tendency  to 
blunt  or  misdirect  the  feelings  of  its  votaries  in 
comjjlicateii  cases  of  professional  morality.  A 
usage  perhaps  correct  in  the  main  is  laid  down 
in  a  sententious  manner,  perhaps  in  Latin, 
and  soon  it  becomes  a  cruel  bed  of  Procrustes, 
w^hile  the  professional  hauteur  makes  deaf  to 
all  protests  of  the  non-professional.  Nearly 
♦ill  grpfif,  T(^f(^rrna  have  begun  with  those  who 
/ 1   did  not  belong  to  the  respective  profession,  or 

^<to  the  successful  competitors  in  the  respective 
Merarchy. 

Lord  Brougham,  when   counsel   of  the  ac- 
cused queen  of  George  lY.,  used  this  language  : 

.^^^n  advocate,  by  the  sacred  duties  which  he 
owes  his  client,  knows,  in  the  discharge  of  that 
office,  but  one  person  in  the  world, — that  client, 
and  none  other.  To  save  that  client  by  all 
expedient  means,  to  protect  that  client  at  all 
hazards  and  cost  to  all  others,  and,  among 
other  things,  to  himself,  is  the  highest  and 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN.     63 

most  unquestioned  of  his  duties.  He  must 
not  regard  the  alarm,  the  suffering,  the  tor- 
ment, the  destruction,  which  he  may  bring  on 
any  other." 

These  words,  logically  considered,  absurd, 
morally  monstrous,  psychologically  interest- 
ing,— for  they  show  how  far  a  mind  of  a  very 
high  order  may  err  when  in  hot  pursuit  of  a 
professional  end, — will  strike  you,  not^et  hard- 
ened by  the  peculiar  ethics  of  a  class  or  pro- 
iession,  as  I  have  designated  them;  but,  what 
is  more,  they  have  actually  been  repeated 
approvingly  as  an  authority  by  professional 
writers.* 


*  They  have  also  found  their  deserts.  Mr.  Kimball, 
quoting  them  in  his  "  St.  Leger,  or  The  Threads  of  Life," 
says,  "A  more  monstrous  doctrine,  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  say,  was  never  broached.  There  is  no  such  thing, 
there  ought  to  be  no  such  thing,  as  the  morality  of  the 
advocate  as  distinguished  from  the  morality  of  the  man. 
The  most  that  the  advocate  can  assume,  either  in  criminal 
or  civil  cases,  is  to  be  clothed  with  the  rights  and  duties 
of  his  client.  That  client  has  no  right  to  fabricate,  to 
prevaricate,  or  to  falsify,  for  the  sake  of  a  defence ; 
neither  has  the  advocate  a  right  to  do  it  for  him.  The 
rationale  of  an  advocate's  labors  is,  that  he  is  engaged  in 


J 


( 


64  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

Let  me  give  you  another  quotation,  taken 
from  a  biography  of  the  famous  Mr.  Curran. 

"It  was  the  object  almost  with  every  one 
to  preoccupy  so  successful  or  so  dangerous  an 
advocate ;  for,  if  he  failed  in  inducing  a  jury 
to  sympathize  with  his  client,  he  at  all  events 
left  a  picture  of  his  adversary  behind  him 
which  survived  and  embittered  the  advantages 
of  victory.  ]N'or  was  his  eloquence  his  only 
weapon :  at  cross-examination,  the  most  diffi- 
cult and  by  far  the  most  hazardous  part  of  a 
barrister's  profession,  he  was  quite  inimitable. 
There  was  no  plan  which  he  did  not  detect, 

trying  to  find  all  the  evidence  of  the  truth  on  one  side, 
his  opponent  seeking  similar  evidence  on  the  opposite, 
judge  and  jury  putting  two  sides  together  in  getting  at 
the  whole  truth. 

"Falsehood  is  no  element  of  truth;  and  to  pretend 
that  an  advocate  is  at  the  command  (and  for  money)  of 
a  confessed  felon  or  admitted  swindler,  is  to  take  a  very 
low  position^  for  the  bar.  For  one,  I  have  never  seen 
any  difficulty  in  this  subject.  I  do  not  believe  an  advo- 
cate has  any  right  to  say  or  do  for  his  client  what  he 
would  not  say  and  do  for  himself;  and,  as  he  would  not  (if 
a  true  man)  either  misstate  or  mystify,  color  or  conceal, 
in  his  own  behalf,  how  can  he  do  these  things  in  behalf 
of  another?" 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  65 

no  web  which  he  did  not  disentangle;  and  the 
unfortunate  wretch  who  commenced  with  all 
the  confidence  of  preconcerted  perjury,  never 
failed  to  retreat  before  him  in  all  the  con- 
fusion of  exposure.      Indeed,  it   was   almost 
impossible  for  the  guilty  to  offer  a  successful 
resistance.     He   argued,  he    cajoled,  he   ridi- 
culed, he  mimicked,  he  played  off  the  various 
artillery  of  his   talent  upon  the  witness;   he 
would    affect    earnestness    upon    trifles,    and 
levity  upon  subjects  of  the  most  serious  im- 
port, until  at  length  he  succeeded  in  creating 
a  security  that  was  fatal,  or  a  sullenness  that 
produced   all  the   consequences  of  prevarica- 
tion.    ISTo   matter   how   unfair   the   topic,  he 
never   failed   to    avail   himself  of  it;    acting 
upon  the  principle  that,  in  law  as  well  as  in 
war,  every  stratagem  was  admissible.     If  he    / 
was  hard  pressed,  there  was  no   peculiarity    I 
of  person,  no  singularity  of  name,  no  eccen-   / 
tricity  of  profession,  at  which  he  would  not  / 
grasp,  trying  to  confound  the  self-possession/ 
of  the  witness  by  the  no-matter-how-excitedl 
ridicule  of  the  audience.     To  a  witness  of  thd 


r 


66     CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN, 


L" 


name  of  Halfjjemiy  lie  once  began,  'Half- 
penny, I  see  you  are  a  rap  ;  and  for  that  reason 
3^ou  shall  be  nailed  to  the  counter.'  'Half- 
penny is  sterling'  exclaimed  the  opposite 
counsel.  'No,  no,'  said  he;  'he's  exactly 
like  his  own  conscience, — only  copj^er-icashed.' 
This  phrase  alluded  to  an  expression  pre- 
viously used  on  the  trial." 

And  now  I  simply  ask  these  questions : — 

Is  this  the  picture  of  a' gentleman  and  an 
upright  man  ?  When  such  practices  were 
lauded  and  raised  advocates  into  distinction, 
no  w^onder  that  Dr.  Arnold  besought  his  best 
pupils  not  to  select  the  proiession  ot  tlie  bar, 
as  most  dangerous  to  an  upright  man  and  a 
gentleman. 

Where^^ere  the  judges,  to  check  such  out- 
rages and  low  practices, — to  protect  the  wit- 
ness ? 

If  every  stratagem  is  allowed  in  law  as  in 
war,  and  if  with  equal  right  the  merchant 
Bays,  "A  trick  in  trade,  &c. ;"  if  the  diploma- 
tist considers  cunning  and  circumventing  the 
essence  of  his  trade;   if  the  politicians  say, 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN. 


and  they  have  done  so  in  print,  "Every  thi 
is  allowed  in  politics ;"  if  the  officers  of  the 

^army  say,  and  they  have  done  so  in  many 
countries,  "  The  soldier  has  no  honor  exce 
absolute  obedience  to  the  king;'^  y  the  priests 
say,  and  they  have  done  so,  that  "  for  the 
greater  glory  of  the  Church,"  nothing  must  be 
conceded  to  the  opponent,  and  every  evil,  even 
crimes,  within  the  church,  must  be  concealed; 
if  political  partisanship  induces  even  divines 
publicly  to  defend  a  fearful  outrage,  because 
committed  by  political  vengeance ;  if  the  zealot 
justifies  "pious  frauds;'^  if  princes  break  their 
solemn  oaths  for  "reasons  of  state,"  and  others 
are  applauded  for  throw^ing  them  to  the  winds, 
in  order  to  obtain  a  crown,  provided  they  are 
successful  though  it  be  with  torrents  of  blood ; 

Jf  the  pupil,  acknowledging  a  lie  to  be  dis- 


honorable,  still  maintains  it  may  be  indulged 
in  if  proffered  to  a  teacher;  if  citizens,  other- 


wise  respectable,  consider  a  custom-house  oath 
of  no  very  binding  power;  if  truth  is  jostled 
like  an  inconvenient  guest  out  of  the  particular    "^ 
bouse  of  every  one,  though  acknowledged  as       I 


r 


68  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 


a  most  honorable  visitor  by  every  one  in  gene- 
ral, where  shall  it  find  an  abiding-place  ?  And 
if  common  truth  and  common  honesty  be  thus 
driven  from  our  doors,  how  can  a  gentlemanly 
conduct — and,  still  more,  how  can  that  holi- 
ness which  is  the  stamp  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, marking  it  from  all  others — be  honored 
without  the  deepest  h^^pocris}^  ?* 


*  In  the  first  and  second  editions  of  this  composition, 
I  gave  at  this  place  the  case  of  Courvoisier  and  the  con- 
duct of  his  counsel,  who,  as  it  was  then  universally  under- 
stood and  remained  for  years  uncontradicted  by  Mr.  Phil- 
lips himself,  had  the  confession  of  the  prisoner  that  he 
had  murdered  Lord  William  Russell,  yet  called  on  the 
Most  High  as  a  witness  that  he,  counsel,  believed  the 
prisoner  innocent,  insinuated  that  a  female  fellow-servant 
of  Courvoisier  might  have  done  the  deed,  charged  a 
respectable  witness  with  perjury  and  with  keeping  a 
house  of  ill  repute,  and  called  the  police-officei's,  who 
detected  his  client,  a  pack  of  ruffians.  The  case  excited 
the  greatest  attention,  and  produced  a  number  of  articles, 
reviews,  and  other  writings.  Mr.  Townsend,  in  his  "  Mo- 
dern State  Trials,"  defended  Mr.  Phillips,  and  gives  his 
views  on  the  duties  of  counsel.  Botli  are  unsatisfactory 
and  inconclusive.  In  the  year  18-19  the  London  Examiner 
returned  to  the  charges  against  Mr.  Phillips,  and  his 
friend  Mr.  Samuel  Warren  begged  him  to  take  notice  of  the 
charges  and  to  refute  them.      Mr.  Phillips  then  published 


CHARACTER    OF   THE    GENTLEMAN.  69 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.      I  consider 
it  every  way  necessary  that  an  indicted  pri- 

a  statement,  for  which  I  refer  the  American  reader  to 
the  Appendix  of  "Professional  Ethics,"  by  George  Shars- 
wood,  Philadelphia,  1855,  The  author  gives  on  page  41 
a  number  of  publications  on  the  subject;  but  the  inquir- 
ing reader  ought,  in  addition,  to  read  the  London  Ex- 
aminer of  November,  1849,  or  the  London  Spectator, 
24th  November  and  1st  December,  1849,  This  is  not 
the  place  to  investigate  whether  the  odium  has  been 
wholly  removed,  Mr.  Phillips's  declaration  that  he  had 
a  most  fearful  night  when  the  murderer,  after  confessing 
to  him,  sent  him  a  message  to  the  effect  that  he  con- 
sidered his  life  in  Phillips's  hands,  seems  somewhat  sur- 
prising. Courvoisier  "  had  confided  in  him,"  Confided 
in  him,  of  course,  as  legal  counsel.  But,  even  if  not,  am 
I  bound  by  extraordinary  scruples  if  a  murderer,  blood- 
begrimed,  rushes  into  my  house,  states  his  deed,  and  asks 
for  shelter?  I  still  think  Mr.  Phillips  ought  to  have 
declined  serving  as  counsel  after  the  confession,  for  as  a 
truthful  man  he  could  not  do  justice  to  his  client,  or  else 
have  closely  limited  himself  to  a  watchful  care  that 
nothing  but  the  law  be  adhered  to.  Nor  does  the  invo- 
cation of  the  Deity  seem  wholly  to  be  removed,  although 
it  was  not  in  the  repulsive  form  as  first  charged.  The 
London  Spectator  of  1st  December,  1849,  in  an  article 
headed  Morals  of  the  Bar,  boldly  says,  "But  the  charge 
which  has  been  made  against  Mr.  Phillips  is  one  that 
might  in  its  material  substance  be  made  against  the  bar 
generally, — one  that  has  been  against  it  for  years." 
Although  the  following  extract  is  long,  I  give  it,  from 


70  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

soner  have  his  defender,  that  is,  counsel  learned 
in  the  law,  who,  however  criminal  or  obviously 

the  London  Spectator  of  19tli  April,  1851,  because  it  is 
pertinent,  and  because  such  occurrences  are  not  officially 
reported : 

"The  opinions  delivered  by  Mr.  Baron  INIartin  on  the 
proper  function  and  responsibility  of  the  bar,  at  a  trial 
of  the  Central  Criminal  Court  on  Saturday,  will  probably 
have  excellent  effect  in  unventilated  moral  regions  of  the 
Old  Bailey.  John  Moss,  servant  of  Mr.  George  Brettle, 
was  indicted  for  stealing  from  his  master  a  telescope, 
clothing,  and  other  articles  of  personal  property,  worth 
lOOZ.  Mr.  Brettle  is  a  partner  of  the  eminent  city  firm 
bearing  his  name:  as  a  bachelor  he  lived  in  the  Albany  ; 
he  lately  married;  and  on  leaving  the  Albany  he  dis- 
covered how  his  valet  had  plundered  him.  For  the  de- 
fence, Mr.  Mew  held  the  brief  of  some  friend  who  had 
been  retained  ;  and  he  endeavored  by  cross-examination 
of  Mr.  Brettle  to  elicit  some  facts  of  a  personal  and 
private  nature,  on  which  the  inference  might  be  founded 
that  the  property  had  been  given  to  Moss  to  procure  his 
silence.  Allusion  was  made  to  a  lady  with  whom  Mr. 
Brettle  had  intimate  relations  before  his  marriage,  but 
who  is  now  dead ;  and  a  demand  was  made  for  inspection 
of  Mr.  Brettle's  check-book.  After  much  persisting, 
however,  it  seemed  that  the  defence  consisted  solely  of 
innuendo ;  nothing  was  elicited  to  justify  the  insinuations ; 
and  the  jury  observed,  aloud,  that  the  questions  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  merits  of  Moss's  defence.  Baron 
Martin  remarked  that  he  had  long  entertained  the  same 
opinion,  but  he  and  the  jury  must  give  the  counsel  credit 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  71 

convicted  his  client  may  stand  at  the  bar  of 
justice,  shall  still  watch  that  the  prisoner  re- 
fer having  some  proper  object  in  view ;  his  was  the  re- 
sponsibility, and  if  in  his  discretion  he  thought  fit  to 
persevere,  the  court  could  not  prevent  him.  Mr.  Mew 
stated  that  he  was  acting  strictly  from  his  instructions ; 
and  he  averred  that  it  was  important  these  questions 
should  be  answered. 

"The  foreman  of  the  jury  (with  warmth). — 'I  can  only 
say,  I  would  much  rather  be  robbed  by  my  servant  to 
any  amount,  and  say  nothing  about  it,  than  get  into  that 
box  as  a  witness,  if  I  am  to  be  subjected  to  an  examina- 
tion into  all  my  private  affairs  by  the  counsel  for  the 
prisoner.' 

"Mr.  Mew  still  insisted  upon  looking  at  the  counter- 
foils and  the  check-books. 

"Mr.  Ballantine,  the  counsel  for  the  prosecution,  said 
that  he  thought  before  one  gentleman  took  upon  himself 
to  examine  the  private  check-book  of  another  gentleman, 
he  ought  at  least  to  state  what  was  his  object  in  doing  so. 

"Mr.  Baron  Martin  said  he  had  already  given  an 
opinion  upon  the  subject  of  the  course  of  cross-examina- 
tion, and  he  must  leave  the  matter  to  the  learned  coun- 
sel's own  sense  of  propriety  and  discretion. 

"Mr.  Mew  then  sat  down,  without  asking  any  further 
questions. 

"The  case  went  to  its  conclusion,  and  the  prisoner 
was  found  guilty.  The  jury  unanimously  resolved  to 
express,  through  their  foreman,  their  extreme  disappro- 
bation of  the  manner  in  which  the  defence  had  been 
conducted  by  the  counsel  for  the  prisoner,  and  to  state 


72  CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 

ceive  nothing  but  what  the  hiw  decrees,  and 
enjoy  all  the  advantages  which  the  law  may 

their  opinion  that  such  a  line  of  defence  is  calculated 
to  defeat  the  ends  of  justice,  by  deterring  persons  from 
coming  forward  with  evidence  against  servants  who  have 
robbed  them.  Mr.  Baron  Martin  stigmatized  the  oflFence 
as  very  abominable ;  there  had  not  appeared  the  slightest 
justification  for  the  defence :  no  doubt  the  prisoner  had 
possessed  himself  of  the  check-books  for  the  purposes 
of  extortion  by  making  known  matters  that  had  occurred 
before  the  marriage  of  the  prosecutor.  Sentence,  trans- 
portation for  ten  years. 

*'Mr.  Mew  again  explained  that  he  held  the  brief  for 
an  absent  friend,  and  that  he  had  acted  only  on  his  in- 
structions: he  urged  that  if  there  were  any  blame  it 
should  fall  not  on  him,  but  on  the  person  who  prepared 
the  instructions. 

"Mr.  Baron  Martin  said  he  had  intimated  during  the 
trial  that  the  course  which  was  taken  was  an  improper 
one,  and  he  still  entertained  the  same  opinion.  Counsel 
are  not  bound  to  act  upon  instructions  where  it  is  evi- 
dent that  they  are  of  an  improper  description  ;  but  it  is 
their  duty  to  exercise  a  discretion  in  such  matters;  and 
?f  they  fail  to  do  so,  a  great  deal  of  that  confidence  which 
subsists  between  the  judges  and  counsel  will  be  destroyed. 
If  he  had  been  concerned  in  such  a  case,  whether  for  a 
friend  or  on  his  own  account,  he  should  certainly  have 
felt  it  his  duty  to  refrain  from  acting  upon  such  instruc- 
tions, or  from  making  use  of  such  materials  as  had  been 
furnished  for  the  defence  of  the  prisoner  in  this  case." 

The  following  happened   at  another  time: — Harrison, 


O^I^IVEBSITT 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMJilL^i'^S  >12:. 


positively  grant  or  not  positively  withhold. 
In  order  to  obtain  this  important  end,  it  is 
necessary  that  every  advocate  consider  him- 
self pledged  to  grant  his  services  to  whomso- 
ever may  apply  for  them.  The  "  custom"  of 
the  English  bar,  settled  by  repeated  decisions 
of  the  bar  itself,  is  to  accept  any  retainer  as 
it  comes.  It  is  considered  "  ungentlemanly" 
not  to  do  it,  unless  there  be  particular  and 
urgent  reasons  for  declining,  such  as  abhor- 

a  grocer  at  Brixton  who  kept  a  receiving-house,  was 
convicted  of  stealing  a  post  letter  containing  a  check  for 
16Z.  The  check  was  cashed  on  the  afternoon  on  which  it 
was  posted ;  and  the  prisoner  paid  away  two  five-pound 
notes  which  were  given  by  the  bankers  in  change  for  the 
check.  The  attempt  at  defence,  by  Mr.  Ballantine,  was 
rather  remarkable.  He  insinuated  that  the  letter  might 
have  been  stolen  by  the  man  who  carried  the  letter-bag 
from  Brixton  to  London, — a  very  improbable  suggestion, 
as  no  explanation  was  attempted  of  the  manner  in  which 
one  at  least  of  the  notes  came  into  Harrison's  possession 
the  same  evening;  nor  was  any  evidence  offered  against 
the  letter-carrier.  Both  Mr.  Baron  Alderson  and  Mr. 
Justice  Coleridge  checked  the  counsel  in  his  reckless 
course ;  and  on  the  second  interference  of  the  bench, 
Mr.  Ballantine  desisted  from  his  charge  against  the 
letter-carrier.  The  sentence  was  two  years'  imprison- 
ment. 


74  CHARACTER   OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

rence  of  the  very  principle  to  be  established. 
It  happened  in  Erskine's  life  that  he  was  re- 
tained for  "the  First  Eegiment  of  Guards;" 
but  it  was  found  that  the  "  First  Eegiment  of 
Guards"  is  no  legal  person  that  can  appear 
in  court.  It  became  necessary,  therefore,  to 
drop  the  name  of  the  First  Eegiment  of 
Guards  and  to  substitute  the  names  of  indivi- 
dual officers.  The  attorney  of  the  opposite 
party  sent  at  once  his  retainer  to  Erskine; 
for  he  was  no  longer  retained  by  the  regi- 
ment, and  not  yet  again  retained  by  the  per- 
sons substituted  for  it ;  and,  however  distaste- 
ful to  the  great  advocate  this  particular  case 
happened  to  be,  he  declared — and  it  is  the 
general  opinion  in  England — that  it  is  one  of 
the  most  important  rights  of  the  subject,  that 
every  advocate  must  allow  himself  to  be  re- 
tained, so  long  as  he  is  not  retained  by  the 
opposite  side. 

If  an  advocate  happen  to  know  the  foulness 
of  a  transaction  which  he  is  called  upon  to 
defend,  he  must  decline;  but,  in  doing  so,  the 
utmost  circumspection  and  a  very  high  degree 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN.     75 

of  conviction  are  requisite;  for  he  must  not 
forget  that  by  his  declining  he  in  a  degree 
prejudges  a  case  still  to  be  tried.  It  is  in  this 
sense,  I  believe,  that  we  must  understand  the 
words  of  Tronchet,  the  counsel  of  Louis  XYI., 
when  at  the  bar  of  the  Convention.  Tronchet 
said,  "Every  man  thus  publicly  called  upon 
to  defend  an  accused  person  cannot  decline 
his  services  without  taking  upon  himself  the 
responsibility  of  pronouncing  a  judgment, — 
precipitate  [his  word  is  Umeraire]  before  the  ex- 
amination of  the  case,  and  barbarous  after  it." 
There  is  no  fairer  occurrence  in  our  Re- 
volution than  the  defence  of  the  British  sol- 
diers who  had  killed  and  wounded  a  number 
of  citizens  at  the  tumult  in  Boston,  on  the 
5th  of  March,  1770.  Their  bold  defenders  at' 
the  bar  of  justice  were  John  Adams  and  Mr. 
Quincy,  both  young  and  ardent  patriots,  and 
for  that  reason  implored  by  the  father  of 
the  latter  not  to  defend  "  murderers."  .^^hey" 
simply  answered  that  the  soldiers  had  not  yet 
been  tried;  and  in  doing  so  they  may  have 
shown  more  coura^'e  than  Socrates  did  when 


76  CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 

he  defended  Theramenes;  for  it  requires 
greater  resolution  to  face  the  indignation  of 
your  fellow-patriots  or  of  your  own  family 
than  to  brave  the  power  of  hated  tyrants. 

It  was  noble  when  M.  de  Martignac,  dis- 
missed from  the  ministry  by  Prince  Polignac, 
nevertheless  defended  the  latter  after  the 
revolution  of  1830,  because  called  upon  to  do 
so  by  Polignac,  when  arraigned  before  the 
peers.  All  this  is  as  it  ought  to  be;  but  the 
advocate  is  not  therefore  absolved  from  moral 
obligations,  as  the  barrister  in  the  case  alluded 
to  must  have  presumed.*      ^  Y'v^^^C^Z- 

If  advocates  were  the  only  persons  on  earth 
who  stand  absolved  from  the  obligations  of 
truth,  morality,  and  justice,  society  would  have 
placed  itself  under  a  very  absurd  despotism, 
and  their  whole  order  ought  speedily  to  be 
abolished.  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  fact  that 
the  institution  of  the  advocate  exists  every- 
where along  with  civil   liberty,  and  is  indis- 


*  The  case  alluded   to  is  the  one  I  have  now  sup- 
pressed. 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  77 

pensable  to  it  :*  therefore,  let  them  be  gentle- 
men. 

The  prosecuting  officer,  on  the  other  hand, 


■^  I  have  dwelt  on  this  subject  more  at  length  in  the 
chapters  on  the  Judge,  Jury,  and  Advocate  in  "  Political  j  .\  ^  \ 
Ethics."  The  enemies  of  civil  liberty  know  well  the  im-  1  * 
portance  of  the  institution  of  the  advocate  for  civil  liberty. 
Archbishop  Laud  and  Earl  Strafford  show,  in  their  corre- 
spondence, the  most  inveterate  hatred  against  lawyers, 
without  whom,  they  confess  to  each  other,  it  would  be 
easy  to  establish  the  king's  "  absolute"  sovereignty,  their 
adored  idol;  and  Duclos  (page  335,  vol.  76,  of  Collect, 
des  M^moires,  second  series)  says  that  the  foreign  minis- 
ters applauded,  in  the  name  of  their  masters,  the  regent, 
Duke  of  Orleans,  for  having  repressed  ces  legistes  (in 
1718),  that  is,  having  incarcerated  three  presidents  of  the 
Parliament.  Laud  and  Strafford,  however,  ought  not  to 
have  forgotten  those  lawyers  who,  as  Audley,  successor 
to  Sir  Thomas  More,  urged  it  as  a  claim  to  promotion, 
**had  willingly  incurred  all  manner  of  infamy  to  serve 
the  government." 

Previous  to  my  writing  the  "Character  of  the  Gentle- 
man," I  had  dwelt  on  the  duties  of  the  advocate  in  my 
<' Political  Ethics"  and  in  my  "Legal  and  Political  Her- 
meneutics."  Since  then  I  have  endeavored  clearly  to  fix 
the  position  of  the  lawyer  in  the  great  polities  of  modern 
free  nations  and  to  ascertain  the  boundaries  of  their  pri- 
vileges derived  from  it,  in  my  "  Civil  Liberty  and  Self- 
Government,"  where  I  speak  of  the  high  position  of  the 
advocate  as  one  of  the  guarantees  of  our  Anglican 


n 


liberty.         / 


78  CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 

must  not  forget  that  the  indicted  person  is 
placed  in  his  power,  which  he  may  abuse 
seriously,  scandalously,  and  in  an  ungentle- 
manly  manner,  as  history  most  amply  shows ; 
that  the  prisoner  is  yet  to  be  tried ;  that  the 
object  of  the  trial  is  justice,  not  to  oppress, 
worry,  or  hunt  down  the  prisoner,  or  to  as- 
perse his  character  so  foully  that,  though  he 
may  be  acquitted,  his  reputation  may  be  ruined 
for  life,  and  that  too,  perhaps,  merely  by  insi- 
nuations. In  the  course  of  your  studies  you 
will  find  instances  of  what  I  say  in  Sir  Ed- 
ward Coke  and  in  Bacon, — him  who  would 
never  have  been  so  deplorably  wrecked  that 
he  saved  little  more  than  immortal  fame  of 
intellect,  had  he  felt  like  a  gentleman  instead 
of  cringing  before  a  James  and  fawning  upon 
a  Buckingham,  being  ready  for  their  least 
commendable  work.  Bacon  was,  unfortunately, 
void  of  dignity  and   honor.*     Earl  Strafford 


*  With  sadness,  indeed,  we  find  a  new  and  appalling 
confirmation  of  Pope's  "greatest,  meanest  of  mankind," 
in  the  lately  renewed  inquiry  into  the  tria,l  of  the  Count- 
ess of  Somerset  for  the  murder  of  Overbury  :  —  "The  Great 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  79 

said,  after  his  trial  for  high  treason,  "  Glynne 
and  Maynard  have  used  me  like  advocates,  but 
Palmer  and  Whitelock  like  gentlemen,  and  yet 
left  out  nothing  that  was  material  to  be  urged 
against  me."  Does  not  every  one  understand 
at  once  what  he  meant  ?  And  do  not  my 
hearers  feel  that  Strafford  himself,  in  uttering 
these  words,  felt  that  fairness  and  liberality 
of  judgment  which  is  "  becoming  a  gentle- 
man" ?  It  seems  to  me  that  the  opening  speech 
of  Mr.  Clifford,  Attorney-General  of  Massachu- 
setts, on  the  trial  of  Professor  Webster  for 
the  murder  of  Dr.  Parkman,  in  1850,  was  a 

Oyer  of  Poisoning :  the  Trial  of  the  Earl  of  Somerset  for 
the  Poisoning  of  Sir  Thomas  Overbury,  &c."  By  Andrew 
Amos.     London,  1846. 

Since  the  preceding  lines  of  this  note  were  written, 
two  works  have  made  their  appearance, — Mr.  Spedding's 
edition  of  Bacon's  Works,  and  Mr.  Hepworth  Dixon's 
"Personal  History  of  Lord  Bacon,  from  Unpublished 
Papers," — both  considered  by  many  persons,  it  would 
seem,  as  presenting  Bacon  in  such  a  light  that,  as  the 
latter  author  says,  "The  lie,  it  may  be  hoped,  is  about 
to  pass  away."  Every  gentleman  will  rejoice  if  by  these 
efforts  Bacon's  memory  shall  be  again  rehabilitated  among 
that  of  gentlemen ;  but  I  doubt  whether  the  attempt  has 
been,  so  far,  successful. 


7 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

model  of  good   sense   and   propriety  in   this 
respect. 

Do  not  believe  that  you  Avill  lastingly  pro- 
mote even  your  worldly  interests  as  lawyers 
by  any  infraction  of  the  strictest  rules  of  a 
gentlemanly  conduct.  Every  advocate  of  ex- 
perience, I  venture  to  say,  will  tell  you  that  a 
fairly  established  reputation  as  gentlemen  will 
be  an  efficient  agent  in  promoting  your  career 
as  advocates. 


Is  it  necessary  to  dwell  on  the  disastrous 
consequences  to  the  law,  justice,  and  security 
of  the  citizen,  to  liberty  and  truth,  when  the 
judge,  that  eminently  essential,  high,  and 
peculiar  functionary  in  our  civil  systems, 
swerves  from  the  path  of  a  high-minded  gen- 
tleman ?  Is  it  necessary  to  recall  to  your 
memory  the  conduct  of  the  Stuart  judges, 
"  ruffians  in  ermine"  ?  Is  it  necessary  to  point 
out  that  in  some  respects  the  judge  has  far 
greater  discretionary  power  in  our  system, 
and  must  have  it,  than  in  many  other  govern- 
ments, because  he  must  be  independent,  and 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  81 

that  for  this  reason  he  must,  in  the  spirit  of 
a  gentleman,  self-limit  this  power? 

The  healing  art  stands  no  less  in  needoj 
being  practised  hy  o;eiit1eTnf^ii  tlinn  the  law 
In  no  profession  is  a  constant  acting  uj)on  the 
strictest  principles  of  gentlemanliness  more 
indispensable  in  a  general  point  of  view,  as 
well  as  with  especial  reference  to  professional 
success,  than  in  the  practice  of  medicine  and 
surgery.  We  know,  indeed,  that  there  have 
been  physicians  of  eminence  who  have  signal- 
ized themselves  alike  by  professional  skill 
and  commensurate  success  on  the  one  hand, 
and  offensive  bluntness  on  the  other;  but  we 
know,  too,  that,  instead  of  following  out  their 
noble  mission  of  alleviating  suffering  in  all 
its  details,  they  have  wantonly  added  to  the 
affliction  of  their  patients,  and  that  the  very 
highest  degree  of  skill  and  knowledge  was 
requisite  to  counterbalance  the  evil  conse- 
quences of  their  ungentlemanly  manners.  I 
speak  of  manners  only ;  for  if  the  physician 
be  void  of  the  principles  of  the  gentleman 
his  ruin  must  be  the  inevitable  consequence. 


lUU 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 


The  aim  of  the  healing  art  is  to  cure  or  alle- 
viate human  suifering  in  this  life,  in  which  it 
is  the  lot  of  man  to  suifer  much, — to  heal,  as 
the  name  imports;  and  the  medical  adviser 
efficiently  aids  his  purely  therapeutic  efforts 
by  soothing  the  heart  of  the  patient  and  by 
comforting  the  anxious  souls  of  those  who 
watch  the  sick-bed  in  distress  and  gloom.  I 
do  not  know  that  man  can  appear  in  a  brighter 
phase  than  as  a  physician,  full  of  knowledgeand 
skill,  calm,  careful,  bold,  and_with  the  soothing 
a'djuncts  oTgentlemanly  blandness.  The  phy- 
sici^jijjnoi'eover,  must  needs  be  adniittedjiiot 
only  into  the  recess  of  the  sick-chamber,  but 
ver;)^^requently  into  the  recessesofTTTspatTent*s 
heartiaimmto  ^Ke^^^samrtim 
with  its  virtues  and  its  failings  and  frailties. 
If  he  do  not  carry  with  hTmTFicstandi^ 
the  purest  honor;  if  he  take  the  slightest 
advantage  of  his  position ;  Jf  he  fail  to  keep 
pvhat  he  sees  and  hears  buried  in  secrecy  as 
)'  inviolable  as  that  of  the  confessor;  if  he  ex- 
I  pose  what  must  be  revealed  to  him, — he  falls 
from  his  high  station,  and  becomes  an  afflict- 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  83 

ing  injurer  and  sower  of  evil  instead  of  a 
comforter,  allaying  pain  and  stilling  sorrow 
where  he  can.  The  eifect  of  a  gentlemanly 
spirit  and  consequent  manners  is  even  great 
in  that  branch  of  the  healing  art  in  which 
you  may  least  expect  it, — in  surgery.  I  have 
passed  months  in  hospitals,  and  have  had 
ample  opportunity  to  observe  the  different 
effects  produced  upon  the  patients,  though 
soldiers  and  sailors  they  were,  during  serious 
operations,  even  the  amputation  of  limbs,  by 
kindly,  gentlemanly  surgeons,  and  by  those 
who  chilled  their  victim's  heart  with  gruff 
words  or  handled  him  with  hasty  and  mechanic 
hands.  How  gratefully  do  the  poverty-stricken 
remember  a  kind  word  of  the  physician  under 
whose  care  they  have  been  in  the  hospital ! 
How  lasting  an  impression  of  horror  does  the 
harshness  of  those  physicians  produce  who 
make  the  patient  bitterly  feel  his  poverty  in 
wealth  and  friends,  in  addition  to  his  bodily 
pain  and  an  aching  heart ! 
_Spme  of  you,  no  doubt,  will  become  editors 
of  newspapers.  \  The   journal    has   become   a 


84  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

prominent  agent  of  modern  civilization,  and 
{he~edrtor  holds  greatrpowfrTin  comparison 
w^Tth  his  fellow-citizens.  He  daily  speaks  to 
many;  he  can  reiterate;  he  is  aided  by  the 
greater  weight  which,  however  unfounded  the 
opinion  may  he,  is  attached  by  the  minds  of 
almost  all  men  to  every  thing  printed,  over 
that  which  is  merely  spoken;  and  he  is  sure 
that  the  contradiction  of  what  he  states  will 
not  run  precisely  in  the  sanae  channels  through 
which  the  first  assertion  was  conveyed.  All 
this,  and  the  consideration  that  the  daily  re- 
peated tone  in  which  a  paper  publishes  or 
discusses  the  many  occurrences  of  the  day 
produces  a  sure  effect  upon  the  general  tone 
of  the  community,  ought  to  warn  an  editor 
that  if  the  obligations  of  a  gentleman  are 
binding  upon  any  one,  they  are  indubitably 
so  upon  him.  The  evil  influence  which  some 
papers  in  our  country,  very  active  but  very 
ungentlemanly  in  their  tone  and  spirit,  have 
ah-eady  exercised  upon  our  community,  cannot 
be  denied.  Let  me  in  addition  point  out  one 
especial    application  of  the    general    duty  of 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN  85 

editors  always  to  conduct  their  pa^^ers  as 
gentlemen :  I  mean  the  abstaining  from  un- 
authorized publication  of  private  letters,  con- 
fidential conversations,  and,  in  general,  from 
any  exposure  of  strictly  private  affairs.  The 
publishing  of  private  letters,  indelicately  au- 
thorized by  those  to  whom  they  are  addressed, 
is  a  failing  of  more  frequent  occurrence  in 
this  than  in  any  other  country;  and  no  gentle- 
manly editor  will  give  his  aid  in  thus  con- 
founding public  and  private  life,  deteriorating 
public  taste  and  trespassing  upon  a  sacred 
right  of  others,  as  clearly  pronounced  and 
protected  by  positive  law,  as  it  obviously 
flows  from  the  nature  of  the  case, — the  distinct 
rule  that  the  writer's  consent  is  necessary  for 
a  lawful  publication  of  letters/-^     It  was  neces- 


*  There  is  an  interesting  account  of  the  decisions  and 
the  law,  as  it  now  stands  in  England,  on  "  the  Copyright 
of  Private  Letters,"  appended  by  the  Bishop  of  Llandalf 
to  the  "Letters  of  the  Earl  of  Dudley,"  new  edition,  Lon- 
don, 1841. r  Jb'or  the  general  reader  it  may  be  stated  here 
that  he  will  find  in  Lord  Campbell's  "Lives  of  the  Lord 
Chancellors,"  vol.  v.  p.  54,  Life  of  Lord  Hardwicke,  the 
first  case,  Pope  v.  Curte,  in  which  it  was  settled  that  the 


86     CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN. 

saiy  to  mention  this  palpable  infraction  of  a 
gentlemanly  conduct;  but  it  is  so  obvious  a 
deviation  from  the  regard  which  one  gentle- 
man owes  to  another,  that,  once  being  men- 
tioned, I  hold  it  to  be  unnecessary  to  say  any 
thing  more  about  it. 

That  the  universal  obligation  of  veracity  is 
emphatically  binding  upon  the  editor,  is  evi- 
dent, but  it  does  not  belong  exclusively  to  the 
subject  of  gentlemanly  conduct.  The  obliga- 
tion of  truthfulness  is  as  general,  and  as  neces- 
sary for  the  individual  and  society,  as  the 
requisite  of  light  is  for  the  life  of  nature. 

Cgfficora    of    the nrmy    r\■\^c]    the   nnvy    are 

cveryAyhere  expected  to  conduct  themselves 
as  gentlemen  towards  one  another,  and  ought 
to  be  gentlemen  in  the  truest  sense  of  the 
term  towards  every  one  out  of  the  army  and 
navy,  man  or  woman,  lady  or  seamstress,  as 
well  as  towards  the  men  under  thfiin— com- 
mand.    The  practice  of  the  high  attribute  of 

*       writer  of  a  letter  retains  bia  copyright  in  it, — in  other 

L words,  that  it  cannot  lawfully  be  published  without  his 
consent. 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  87 

the  gentleman,  that  he  allows  his  subordinates 
or  the  weak  to  feel  his  power  as  little  as  is 
consistent  with  duty,  is  not  only  elevating  to 
the  officer,  but,  in  a  point  of  common  expe- 
diency, highly  profitable.  Soldiers  and  sailors, 
like  all  other  human  beings,  honor,  and,  when 
the  trial  comes,  cling  to,  the  man  who  has 
habitually  treated  them  in  a  gentlemanly  way. 
There  was  a  time — not  even  half  a  century  ago 
• — when  in  all  armies  except  the  French  it 
was  believed  that  caning  and  flogging  were 
^he  best  TTat^nna  of  disoipliri^e.  Prussia,  soon 
after  her  defeat  in  the  year  1806,  profiting  by 
the  example  of  her  victors,  abolished  the  dis- 
graceful stick, — though  not  without  the  loudest 
protests  of  the  "  conservatives," — and  rapidly 
raised  the  army  punishments  from  the  inflic- 
tion of  mere  physical  pains,  more  and  more 
to  those  that  appeal  to  honor  and  morality, 
the  king  declaring,  each  time  a  change  was 
made,  by  royal  decree,  that  the  last  improve- 
ment of  the  military  punishment  had  so 
far  improved  the   spirit  of  the  army  that  a 

further   improvement   was   admissible;    until 
8 


L 


88  CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 

at  last  punishment  in  that  army  may  be  said 
to  have  become  wholly  unbrutalized.  England 
has  not  followed  this  marked  improvement  of 
our  race  as  much  as  is  desired  by  many ,  because, 
as  the  Duke  of  Wellington  publicly  declared, 
the  British  army  is  composed  of  enlisted  men, 
often  the  scum  of  society;  but  before  Sebasto- 
pol  the  British  officers  were  ashamed  of  the 
cat-o'-nine-tails  in  presence  of  the  French;  and 
Admiral  Collingwood,  called  the  strictest  dis- 
ciplinarian of  the  navy,  never  ceased  to  pro- 
test against  flogging  in  the  navy,  during  his 
whole  protracted  command  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean fleet  in  the  times  of  Napoleon.*  I  know 
nothing  individual  of  the  officer  who  as  quietly 
as  on  parade  went  down  with  his  soldiers  un- 
der arms  in  rank  and  file,  in  the  Birkenhead; 
but  I  conclude  he  must  have  habitually  treated 
his  men  like  a  gentleman.  Such  command 
over  men  at  such  an  hour  requires  more  than  a 
commission. 

*  See  "  Public  and  Private  Correspondence  of  the 
Vice-Admiral  Collingwood,  -with  Memoirs  of  his  Life." 
Third  edition.     London,  1828. 


^'^2^^^<'^^ 


CHARACTER    OP    THE    GENTLEMAN.  89 

X^^.£^^acter  oftbe  j^eiitleman  in  the  sphere 
of  political  action,  or  in  all  that  can  be  called 
public  life,  is  one  of  far  the  most  important 
topics  belonging  to  our  subject.  If  entire 
instructive  books  have  been  written  on  the 
citizen,  it  would  be  neither  an  unprofitable 
nor  an  ungrateful  task  to  write  an  entire 
volume  on  the  character  of  the  gentleman  as 
citizen.     I  shall  merely  mention  some  points. 

The  greater  the  liberty  is  which  we  enjoy 
in  any  sphere  of  life,  the  more  binding,  neces- 
sarily, becomes  the  obligation  of  self-restraint, 
and,  consequently,  the  more  important  become 
all  the  rules  of  action  which  flow  from  our 
reverence  for  the  pure  character  of  the  gentle- 
man,— an  importance  which  is  enhanced  in  the 
present  period  of  our  country,  because  one  of  its 
striking  features,  if  I  mistake  not,  is  an  intense 
and  general  attention  to  rights  without  a  paral- 
lel and  proportionately  clear  perception  of  cor- 
responding obligations.  But  right  and  obliga- 
tion are  twins  :  they  are  like  the  binary  flames 
of  Castor  and  Pollux,  which  the  sailors  of  the 
Mediterranean  consider  as  a  sure  sign  of  fair 


90  CHARACTER   OF    THE   GENTLEMAN. 

weather  and  prosperous  winds;  but  if  one 
alone  is  seen  illumining  the  yard's  end,  the 
mariner  fears  foul  weather  and  danger.  Eight 
and  obligation  are  each  other's  complements, 
and  cannot  be  severed  without  undermining 
the  ethical  ground  on  which  we  stand, — that 
ground  on  which  alone  civilization,  justice, 
virtue,  and  real  progress  can  build  enduring 
monuments.  Eight  and  obligation  are  the 
warp  and  the  woof  of  the  tissue  of  man's 
moral,  and  therefore,  likewise,  of  man's  civil 
life.  Take  out  the  one,  and  the  other  is  in 
worthless  confusion.  We  must  return  to  this 
momentous  principle,  the  first  of  all  moral 
government,  and,  as  fairness  and  calmness  are 
two  prominent  ingredients  in  the  character 
of  the  gentleman,  it  is  plain  that  this  reform 
must  be  materially  promoted  by  a  general 
diffusion  of  a  sincere  regard  for  that  cha- 
racter. Liberty,  which  is  the  enjoyment  of^ 
unfcttercd_action,  necessarily  leads  to  licen- 
tiousnCjSP,  witlinnt.  np  increased  binding  power 
wntlnp  ;  for  liberty  offers  to  man,  indeed,  a 
free   choice  of  action,  but  it  cannot   absolve 


CHARACTER   OF   THE   GENTLEMAN.  91 

him  from  the  duty  of  choosing  what  is  right, 
fair,  liberal,  urbane,  and  handsome. 

Where  there  is  freedom  of  action,  no  matter 
in  what  region  or  what  class  of  men,  there 
always  have  been,  and  must  be,  parties,  whe- 
ther they  be  called  party,  school,  sect,  or  "fac- 
tion.''* These  will  often  act  the  one  against 
the  other;  but,  as  a  matter  of  course,  they 
are  not  allowed  to  dispense  with  any  of  the 
principles  of  morality.  The  principle  that 
every  thing  is  permitted  in  politics  is  so  shame- 
less, and  ruinous  to  all,  that  I  need  not  dwell 
upon  it  here.  But  there  are  a  great  many 
acts,  as  has  been  stated  before,  which,  though 
it  miay  not  be  possible  to  prove  them  wrong 
according  to  the  strict  laws  of  ethics,  never- 
theless appear  at  once  as  unfair,  not  strictly 
honorable,  ungentlemanlike ;  and  it  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  the  essential  prosperity 
of  a  free  country  that  these  acts  should  not 
be  resorted  to;   that  in  the  minor  or  higher 

*  In  the  conclave  the  cardinals  used  to  di-vide  into 
Spanish,  French,  &c.  factions,  i.e.  parties;  possibly  they 
do  so  still. 


92  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

assemblies  and  in  all  party  struggles,  even 
the  intensest,  we  ought  never  to  abandon  the 
standard  of  the  gentleman.  It  is  all-import- 
ant that  parties  keep  in  "  good  humor,"  as 
Lord  Clarendon  said  of  the  whole  country. 
One  deviation  from  fairness,  candor,  decorum, 
and  "fair  play"  begets  others  and  worse  in 
the  opponent,  and  from  the  kindliest  difference 
of  opinion  to  the  fiercest  struggle  of  factions, 
sword  in  hand,  is  but  one  unbroken  gradual 
descent,  however  great  the  distance  may  be; 
while  few  things  are  surer  to  forestall  or  arrest 
this  degeneracy  than  a  common  and  hearty 
esteem  of  the  character  of  the  gentleman. 

We  have  in  our  country  a  noble  example  of 
calmness,  truthfulness,  dignity,  fairness,  and 
urbanity, — constituents  of  the  character  whicli 
we~are  considering, — in  the  father  of  our  coun- 
try ',  for  JWashington)  the  wise  and  steadfast 
plitfiot,  was  also  the  high-mmclea  gentlemiin. 
When  the  malcontent  officers  of  his  army  in- 
formed him  that  they  would  lend  him  their 
support  if  he  were  willing  to  build  himself  a 
throne,  he  knew  how  to  blend  the  dictates  of 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  93 

his  oath  to  the  commonwealth,  and  of  his 
patriotic  heart,  with  those  of  a  gentlemanly 
feeling  towards  the  deluded  and  irritated.  In 
the  sense  in  which  we  take  the  term  here,  it 
is  not  the  least  of  his  honors  that,  through  all 
the  trying  periods  and  scenes  of  his  remark- 
able life,  the  historian  and  moralist  can  write 
him  down,  not  only  as  Washington  the  "Wise, 
not  only  as  Washington  the  Pure  and  Single- 
minded,  not  only  as  Washington  the  Perse- 
vering and  Tenacious,  but  also  as  Washington 
the  Gentleman. 

If  in  a  country  of  varied,  quick,  and  ardent 
political  action  and  manifold  excitement,  in 
which  changes  and  new  combinations  must 
often  take  place,  the  standard  of  the  high-bred 
gentleman  is  abandoned,  the  effect  is  as  bane- 
ful as  that  of  a  prying  and  falsifying  secret 
police  in  despotic  governments.  Mr.  Eanke 
relates,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Popes,"  that  the 
utmost  caution  of  each  toward  every  one  pre- 
vailed in  Pome,  because  no  one  knew  how  he 
might  stand  with  his  best  friend  in  a  year's 
time.     The  same  destruction  of  confidence  and 


94     CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN. 

mutual  reliance  must  spread  over  the  land 
where  freedom  reigns  but  a  gentlemanly  cha- 
racter does  not  at  the  same  time  prevail.  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  the  brilliant,  energetic,  and  reck- 
less Alcibiades  of  English  history,  rigidly  ob- 
served the  rule,  during  all  his  tergiversations, 
"  that  he  never  betrayed  the  secrets  of  a  party 
he  had  left,  or  made  harsh  personal  observa- 
tions on  the  conduct  of  his  old  friends, — not 
only  trying  to  keep  up  a  familiar  private  in- 
tercourse with  them,  but  abstaining  from  vin- 
dictive reflections  upon  them  in  his  speeches 
or  his  writings."*  This  observance  and  his 
Habeas  Corpus  Act  go  far  with  us  in  redeem- 
ing the  character  of  this  profligate  and  un- 
princij^led  statesman.  If  you  wish  to  see  the 
disastrous  efi'ects  of  a  general  destruction  of 
confidence    and    mutual    reliance,   you    must 

*  Lord  Campbell's  "  Lives  of  the  Chancellors,"  vol.  iii. 
p.  290.  I  am  aware  that  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  took  a 
somewhat  different  view  of  the  blending  of  private  in- 
tercourse with  political  opposition,  as  appears  from  his 
"  Life  and  Correspondence"  by  his  son  ;  but  I  believe  the 
difference  is  more  seeming  than  real,  to  judge  him  by 
his  own  life. 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  95 

study  Spanish  history;  for  I  believe  that  the 
worst  effect  of  the  Inquisition  has  been  the 
total  change  of  the  Spanish  national  cha- 
racter. Even  dukes  became  spies,  and  that 
once  noble  nation  was  filled  with  truculent 
suspicion,  in  the  dark  shades  of  which  the 
character  of  the  gentleman  cannot  prosper. 

I  must  not  omit  making  mention  at  least  of 
the  importance  of  a  gentlemanly  spirit  in  all 
international  transactions  with  sister  nations 
of  our  race, — and  even  with  tribes  which 
follow  different  standards  of  conduct  and  mo- 
rality. Nothing  seems  to  me  to  show  more 
undeniably  the  real  progress  which  humaa 
society  has  made,  than  the  general  purity  of 
judges,*  together  with  the  improvement  of  the 

*  I  have  lived  for  long  periods  in  Italy,  Germany, 
France,  England,  and  the  United  States,  and  never  heard, 
in  the  four  last-mentioned  countries,  of  a  judge  suspected 
of  bribery.  Yet  only  a  short  period  has  elapsed  since 
satire  and  comedy  teemed  with  the  standing  subjects  of 
bribed  judges,  criminal  advocates,  and  irksome  wedlock; 
and  Lord  Campbell,  in  the  work  cited  in  the  preceding 
note,  says,  "England,  during  the  Stuart  reigns,  was 
cursed  by  a  succession  of  ruffians  in  ermine,  who,  for 
the    sake   of    court-favor,     violated    the    principles    of 


yt)  CHARACTER   OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

whoie  administration  of  justice,  so  far  at  least 
as  the  leading  nations  are  concerned,  and  the 
vastly  improved  morals  of  modern  intexna- 
tional  intercourse,  holding  diplomatic  fraud 
and  international  trickery,  bullying,  and  pet- 
tifogging, as  no  less  unwise  than  immoral. 
History,  and  that  of  our  own  times  especially, 
teaches  us  that  nowhere  is  the  vaporing  brag- 
gart more  out  of  place,  and  the  true  gen- 
tleman more  in  his  proper  sphere,  than  in 
conducting  international  affairs.  Fairness  on 
the  one  hand,  and  collected  self-respect  on 
the  other,  will  frequently  make  matters  easy, 
w^here  swaggering  taunt,  or  reckless  conceit 
and  insulting  folly,  may  lead  to  the  serious 
misunderstanding  of  entire  nations,  and  a  san- 
guinary end.  The  firm  and  dignified  carriage 
of  our  Senate,  and  the  absence  of  petty  pas- 
sion or  vain-gloriousness  in  the  British  Par- 
liament, have  brought  the  Oregon  question  to 
a  fair  and  satisfactory  end, — an  affair  which 
but  a  short  time  ago  was  believed  by  many 

law,  the   precepts  of  religion,  and   the  dictates  of  hu- 
manity." 


CHARACTER   OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  97 

to  be  involved  in  difficulties  which  the  sword 
alone  was  able  to  cut  short.  Even  genuine 
personal  urbanity  in  those  to  whom  interna- 
tional aifairs  are  intrusted  is  very  frequently 
of  great  importance  for  a  happy  ultimate 
good  understanding  between  the  mightiest 
nations. 

"We  may  express  a  similar  opinion  with  re- 
ference  to  war.  I^othing  mitigates  so  much 
its  hardships,  and  few  things  depending  upon 
individuals  aid  more  in  preparing  a  welcome 
peace,  than  a  gentlemanly  spirit  in  the  com- 
manders,  officers,  and,  indeed,  in  all  the  com- 


batants, towards  their  enemies,  whenever  an 
opportunity  offers  itself.  Instead  of  numerous" 
instances  that  might  be  given,  I  may  add  that 
the  mention  of  the  names  of  Prince  Eugene 
and  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  ought  never 
to  be  omitted  when  the  progress  of  civilization 
in  connection  with  this  or  similar  subjects  is 
under  discussion.  It  was  these  two  captains 
that  treated  their  captives  of  war  in  such  a 
manner  that  soon  a  great  improvement  in  the 
treating  of  prisoners  of  war  was  effected  all 


UNIVERSITT 


98  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 


u: 


round,  became  a  portion  of  the  modern  law 
of  war,  and  forms  now  one  of  the  character- 
istics of  our  civilization.* 

I  must  add,  as  a  fact  worthy  of  notice,  that 
political  assassination,  especially  in  times  of 
war,  was  not  looked  upon  in  antiquity  as  in- 


*  A  gentlemanly  spirit,  of  which  dh 
and  equally  dignified  forbearance,  as  well  as  truthful- 
ness,  are  essential  elements,  isjhe  basis  of  a  large  por- 
'tion  of  the  mod^ern  law  of  nations,  in  peace  as  well  as 
■wai\_  The  law"oT"nations  is  the  result  of  the  principle 
of  self-government  applied  to  the  intercourse  of  many 
great  nations  existing  at  one  and  the  same  time,  drawing 
abreast,  like  Olympic  chariot-horses,  the  car  of  civiliza- 
tion,— that  great  fact  in  history  which  constitutes  the 
very  opposite  to  the  obsolete  idea  of  a  universal  mon- 
archy, once  more  recommended  in  our  times  from  that 
quarter  which  is  vindicated  as  the  concentration  of  all 
civilization.  The  law  of  nations  requires,  before  all 
other  things,  that  nations  treat  and  respect  one  another 
as  equals  ;  and  if  I  had  ever  doubted  that  a  gentlemanly 
conducts  even  tnwn,rd<^  the  enemy,  is  an  essential  efemonl 
of  that  branch  of  the  law  of  nations  which  is  called  the 


law  and  usages  of  war,  it  would  have  most  clearly  pre- 
sented itself  to  my  mind  when  I  was  drawing  up  the 
code  of  "Instructions  for  the  Government  of  Armies  of 
the  United  States  in  the  Field,"  which,  revised  by  proper 
I  authority,  has  been  promulgated  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States. 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  99 

admissible;  that  Sir  Tliomas  More  mentions 
the  assassination  of  the  hostile  captain  as  a 
wise  measure  resorted  to  by  his  Utopians; 
that  Queen  Elizabeth  called  Sir  Amyas  Paulet 
"  a  dainty  fellow/'  because  he  was  unwilling 
to  lend  a  hand  in  ridding  her  of  the  captive 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  and  Cardinal  Eetz 
quietly  weighed  the  expediency  of  murdering 
Cardinal  Mazarin,  his  successful  rival  in  the 
civil  broils  of  France ;  that  Charles  II.  j)ro- 
mised,  by  proclamation,  a  high  reward  and 
civil  elevation  to  whomsoever  would  poison  or 
otherwise  destroy  "  that  mechanic  fellow  Crom- 
Avell;''  that  the  Commonwealth-men  in  exile 
were  picked  off  by  assassination ;  while  Charles 
Fox,  during  the  war  with  the  French,  arrested 
the  man  who  offered  to  assassinate  Napoleon, 
informed  the  French  Government  of  the  fact, 
and  sent  the  man  out  of  the  country  ;'^  and 
Admiral  Lord  St.  Yincent,  the  stern  enemy  of 
the  French,  directed  his  secretary  to  write  the 
following  answer  to  a  similar  offer  made  by  a 


*  Pell's  "Life  of  Cbarles  James  Fox,"  p.  592. 
9 


100  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

French  emigrant:  "Lord  St.  Vincent  has  not 
words  to  express  the  detestation  in  which  he 
holds  an  assasin."*  Fox  and  Yincent  acted 
like  Christians  and  gentlemen."!- 

*  Tucker,  "  Memoirs  of  Admir<al  the  Earl  St. Vincent," 
vol.  i.  p.  203. 

f  Death,  as  a  means  of  action  in  politics,  be  it  the 
death  of  dangerous  individuals  or  death  on  a  large  scale, 
as  the  French  used  it  in  the  first  Revolution,  which  led  in 
turn  to  the  abolition  of  capital  punishment  for  "political 
offences"  by  the  Provisional  Government  in  1848,  must 
be  treated  of  in  political  philosophy  and  political  ethics. 
But  assassinations  of  individuals,  as  of  Ileni-y  IV.,  may 
be  mentioned  here.  Sand,  the  murderer  of  Kotzebue, 
and  Stapss,  who,  eighteen  years  old,  attempted  to  kill 
Napoleon  at  Schoenbrunn  (see  the  Memoires  du  General 
Rapp,  Paris,  1823,  p.  112  et  seqq.),  were  enthusiastic 
youths  misled  by  the  contemplation  of  the  wrongs  in- 
flicted on  their  outraged  country. 

Two  years  after  the  publication  of  the  second  edition 
of  this  essay,  a  foreign  paper  published  in  the  United 
States  contained  an  advei'tisement  of  fourteen  lines, 
offering  five  hundred  dollars  reward  for  the  murder  of  a 
certain  civil  officer  in  Baden,  and  spoke  of  a  Society  for 
the  Extirpation  of  German  Princes.  The  absurdity  of 
this  monstrous  advertisement  would  make  it  ludicrous, 
did  such  depravity,  even  were  it  nothing  worse  than 
depravity  of  taste,  leave  room  for  laughter. 

While  these  pages  are  retouching,  the  papers  give  us 
an  account  of  the  trial  of  those  Italians  at  Paris  who  were 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  101 

I  have  mentioned  some  cheering  charac- 
teristics of  our  period,  showing  an  essential 
progress  in  our  race.  I  ought  to  add  a  third, 
• — namely,  the  more  gentlemanly  spirit  which 
pervades  modern  penal_laws.  I  am  well 
aware  that  the  whole  system  of  punition  has 
greatly  improved,  because  men  have  made 
penology  a  subject  of  serious  reflection,  and 
the  utter  fallacy  of  many  principles  in  which 
our  forefathers  seriously  believed  has  at  length 
been  exposed.  But  it  is  at  the  same  time 
impossible  to  study  the  history  of  penal  law 
without  clearly  perceiving  that  punishments 
were  formerly  dictated  by  a  vindictive  ferocity, 
— an  ungentlemanly  spirit  of  oppression.    All 

accused  of  having  allowed  themselres  to  be  tempted  by 
a  couple  of  hundred  dollars,  furnished  by  Mazzini,  to 
assassinate  the  Emperor  of  the  French.  Little  reliance, 
however,  can  be  placed  on  a  French  state  trial  of  this 
sort,  defying  as  it  does  the  commonest  rules  of  legal 
investigation,  and  conducted  by  a  government  which 
placed  itself  over  France  by  breaking  all  oaths  and  by 
shedding  streams  of  blood.  Absolute  governments, 
newly  established,  often  stand  in  need  of  conspiracies, 
to  frighten  the  people  and  tighten  the  reins  still  more 
conveniently. 


102  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

the  accumulated  atrocities  heaped  upon  the 
criminal,  and  not  unfrequently  upon  his  inno- 
cent kin,  merely  because  he  was  what  now 
would  be  gently  called  "  in  the  opposition,'' 
make  us  almost  hear  the  enraged  punisher 
vulgarly  utter,  "  IS'ow  I  have  you,  and  you 
shall  see  how  I'll  manage  you."  Archbishop 
Laud — essentially  not  a  gentleman,  but  a 
vindictive  persecutor  of  every  one  who  dared 
to  differ  from  his  coarse 'views  of  State  and 
Church — presided  in  the  Star-Chamber  and 
animated  its  members  when  Lord  Keeper 
Coventry  pronounced  the  following  sentence 
on  Dr.  Alexander  Leighton,  a  Scottish  divine, 
for  slandering  prelacy:  "That  the  defendant 
should  be  imprisoned  in  the  Fleet  during  life, 
should  be  fined  ten  thousand  pounds,  and, 
after  being  degraded  from  holy  orders  by  the 
high  commissioners,  should  be  set  in  the  pil- 
lory in  Westminster, — there  be  wliip^^ed, — after 
being  whipped,  again  be  set  in  the  pillorj^, — 
have  one  of  his  ears  cut  off, — have  his  nose 
slit, — be  branded  in  the  face  with  a  double 
S.  S.,  for  a  Sower  of  Sedition, — afterwards  be 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN.    103 

Bet  in  the  pillory  in  Cheapside,  and  there  be 
whipped,  and,  after  being  whipped,  again  be 
set  in  the  pillory  and  have  his  other  ear  cut 
off."  The  whole  council  agreed.  There  was 
no  recommendation  for  pardon  or  mitigation. 
The  sentence  was  inflicted.  Could  a  gentle- 
man have  proposed  or  voted  for  so  brutal  an 
accumulation  of  pain,  insult,  mutilation,  and 
ruin,  no  matter  what  the  fundamental  errors 
prevailing  in  penal  law  then  were  ?  Nor  have 
I  selected  this  from  other  sentences  for  its 
peculiar  cruelty.  Every  student  of  history 
knows  that  they  were  common  at  the  time 
against  all  who  offended  authority  even  un- 
knowingly. Stubbs,  a  divine  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  was  sentenced  to  have  his 
right  hand  cut  off,  because,  when  the  marriage 
of  the  queen  with  a  French  prince  was  discuss- 
ing, he  had  ventured  to  express,  in  a  pamphlet, 
his  fears  of  the  danger  to  which  the  queen 
would  expose  herself  in  possible  child-bed,  on 
account  of  her  age.  She  was  then  between 
forty  and  fifty.  Yet,  when  the  executioner 
had  severed  his  right  hand,  he  waved  his  hat 

9* 


104  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

with  the  remaining  left,  and  exclaimed,  "Long 
live  the  queen !"  Compare  the  spirit  which 
could  overwhelm  a  victim  with  such  brutality, 
and  the  branding,  pillory,  and  whipping  still 
existing  in  some  countries,  with  the  spirit  of 
calmness,  kindness,  yet  seriousness  and  dignity, 
which  pervades  a  punitory  scheme  such  as  the 
Pennsylvania  eremitic  penitentiary  system, 
which,  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is  gentle- 
manly, is  the  most  impressive  and  penetrating, 
and  therefore  the  most  forbidding,  of  all. 

Let  me  barely  allude  to  the  duties  of  the 
gentleman  in  those  countries  in  which  slavery 
still  exists.  Plato  says,*  genuine  humanity 
and  real  probity  are  brought  to  the  test  by  the 
behavior  of  a  man  to  slaves,  whom  he  may 
wrong  with  impunity.  lie  speaks  like  a  gen- 
tleman. Although  his  golden  rule  applies  to  all 
persons  whom  we  may  offend  or  grieve  with 
impunity,  and  although  the  fair  and  reluctant 
use  of  every  power  wbichwe  may  possess  over 
others  is  one  of  the  truest  tests  of  the  gentle- 

*  Dc  Lcgibup,  lib.  vi.  edit.  Bipont.  viii.  203. 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  105 

man,  yet  it  is  natural  that  Plato  should  have 
made  the  treatment  of  the  slave  the  peculiar 
test,  because  slavery  _giyes  the  greatest  power. 
Cicero  says  we  should  not  use  slaves  otherwise 
than  we  do  our  day-laborers.*  I  have  just 
stated  that  the  foi'beariug  use  of  power  is  a  sure 
£l^ibiltfLJ2£J^h^  ^^^^"'p'  o;entleman ;  indeed, .we 
may  say  that(powerpphysical,  moral,  purely 
social  or  political,  is  one  of  the  touchstones  of 
genuine  gentlemanliness^^-'^^e  power  which 
the  husband  has  over  his' wife,  in  which  must 
be  included  the  impunity  with  which  he  may  be 
simply  unkind  to  her;  that  of  the  father  over 
his  children;  the  teacher  over  his  pupils;  the 
old  over  the  young,  and  the  young  over  the 
aged;  the  strong  over  the  weak;  the  officer 
over  his  men;  the  master  of  a  vessel  over  his 
hands;  the  magistrate  over  the  citizen;  the 
employer  over  the  employed ;  the  rich  over  the 
poor;  the  educated  over  the  unlettered;  the 
experienced  over  the  confiding ;  the  keeper  of  a 
secret  over  him  whom  it  concerns ;  the  gifted 

*  De  Officiis,  xiii. 


106  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

over  the  ordinary  man ;  even  the  clever  over 
the  silly, — the  forbearing  and  inoffensive  use 
of  all  this  power  or  authority,  or  a  total  absti- 
nence from  it,  where  the  case  admits  of  it,  will 
show  the  gentleman  in  a  plain  light.  Every 
traveller  knows  at  once  whether  a  gentle- 
manly or  a  rude  officer  is  searching  his  trunk. 
Eut  the  use  of  poweris  not  the  only  touch- 
stone :    even  th^  maftner   in  which    an   indi- 


L^  manner 
ert^n  adva: 


vidua!  enjoys  cei't^n  advantages  over  others 
Jiatest.  Ko  gentleman  will  boast  of  the 
delights  of  superior  health  in  j)i'esence  of  a 
languid  patient,  or  speak  of  great  good  luck 
when  in  hearing  of  a  man  bent  by  habitual 
misfortune.  Let  a  man  who  happily  enjoys 
the  advantages  of  a  pure  and  honest  life 
speak  of  it  to  a  fallen,  criminal  fellow-being, 
and  it  will  soon  be  seen  whether  he  be,  in  addi- 
tion to  his  honesty,  a  gentleman  or  not.  The 
gentleman  does  not  needlessly  and  unceasingly 
remind  an  offender  of  a  wrong  he  may  have 
committed  against  him.  He  can  not  only 
forgive,  he  can  forget;  and  he  strives  for  that 
noljleness  of  soul  and  manliness  of  character 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  107 

■vvhicli  impart  sufficient  strength  to  let  the 
past  be  truly  past.  He  will  never  use  the 
power  Avhieh  the  knowledge  of  an  offence,  a 
false  step,  or  an  unfortunate  exposure  of  weak- 
ness give  him,  merely  to  enjoy  the  act  of 
humiliating  his  neighbor.  A  true_  man  of 
honor  feels  humbled  himself  when  he  cannot 
help  humbling  others. 

The  subject  which  I  have  chosen  covers  so 
extensive  a  ground  that  it  is  difficult  to  break 
off,  or  to  treat  of  all  the  most  important  points. 
Give  me  leave,  then,  to  refer  to  but  one 
more  subject  of  practical  importance,  be- 
fore I  shall  address  to  you  my  concluding 
remarks.  It  is  the  subject  of  deriding  others, 
so  natural  to  untutored  minds,  yet  so  incon- 
sistent with  a  truly  gentlemanly  sj)irit,  because 
so  painful,  and  generally  so  undeservedly  pain- 
ful, to  those  who  are  the  objects  of  our  deriding 
smiles.  A  little  reflection  will  show  you  that 
they  are  not  in  harmony  with  that  genuine 
good  nature,  and  still  less  conformable  to  that 
refinement  of  feeling,  which  characterize  the 
gentleman.     Perhaps  it  will  appear  that  ho 


Prh 


108  CHARACTER    OP    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

who  laughs  at  others  shows  that  he  deserves 
our  pity  more  than  the  person  laughed  at. 
The  Koran  says,  "  Do  not  mock  thy  neighbor : 
the  mocked  may  be  better  than  the  mocker." 
There  is  no  subject  in  the  whole  province  of 
psychology  which  offers  greater  difficulties  to 
the  philosopher,  possibly  none  that  offers  diffi- 
culties so  great,  as  that  of  laughing  and  the 
ridiculous.  You  will  find  that  we  feel  tempted 
to  smile,  sometimes,  even  when  our  soul  is  filled 
with  horror.  There  is  always  something  risible 
in  the  Blue  Beards,  and,  strange  to  say,  the 
highest  degree  of  horror  frequently  causes  i^hy- 
sical  convulsive  laughter.*  We  ought,  then,  to 
take  care  not  to  be  betrayed  into  an  act  so  little 
understood,  when  done  at  the  cost  of  another, 

*  We  are  here  reminded  even  of  the  sardonic  smile. 
Laughter,  so  distinguishing  a  feature  of  man,  and  so 
closely  interwoven  with  literature,  with  civilization,  and 
with  ethnography,  for  some  races  are  more  cacliinnatory 
than  others, — the  negroes  and  Indians  occupying  appa- 
rently the  two  ends  of  the  scale, — laughter,  I  say,  seems 
nevertheless  unexplained,  even  more  so  than  disgust,  that 
"mystic  union  between  imagination  and  the  stomach." 
I  know  of  no  profound  physiology  of  laughter,  not  even 
of  a  sound  chapter  on  this  remarkable  subject. 


V^a 


CHARACTEh    of    the    gentleman.    '     4§§'^':32ss*' 

who  may  feel  pained  or  liiimbled  by  our  inad-  [ 
vertence.  We  may  further  say  that  every  thing 
novel,  which  does  not  at  once  strike  us  as 
grand,  sublime,  or  awful,  inclines  us  first  of  all 
to  smile.  The  advanced  state  of  my  address 
prevents  me  from  giving  you  instances.  You 
can  easily,  however,  provide  them  for  your- 
selves. But,  if  the  fact  is  as  I  have  stated, 
you  will  readily  see  that  the  smiling,  caused 
by  every  thing  novel,  betrays  as  often  our  own 
ignorance  as  a  fair  cause  of  risibility.  You 
ought,  moreover,  to  remember  that  every 
human  action  perceptible  by  the  senses,  and 
which  strikes  us  at  all,  causes  us  to  laugh, 
if  we  are  unacquainted  with  its  antecedents, 
or  if  we  see  it  out  of  connection,  unless  an 
experienced  mind  and  vivid  imagination 
quickly  supply  the  antecedents,  or  a  well- 
trained  mind  abstain  from  laughing  at  others, 
or  at  striking  objects,  as  a  general  rule.  Here, 
again,  the  ridiculous  is  not  inherent  in  the  phe- 
nomenon, but  is  owing  to  him  who  laughs.  To 
Bee,  but  not  to  hear,  persons  singing,  is  to  all 
untutored  minds  ridiculous.     Suddenly  to  find 


J 


110 


CHARACTER   OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 


a  man  vehemently  speaking  and  gesticulating 
strikes  us  as  laughable;  while,  had  we  been 
present  from  the  beginning,  he  might  thrill 
our  souls  by  those  very  tones  and  gestures. 
Even  marks  of  the  tenderest  affection  fare  no 
better  in  this  respect;  and  what  is  more  com- 
mon than  the  laughing  of  the  uneducated  at 
the  accent  of  those  who,  nevertheless,  may  have 
used  great  diligence  and  study  to  make  them- 
selves well  understood  in  an  idiom,  all  the  diffi- 
culties of  which  they  are  not  able  to  overcome, 
because  they  have  not  learned  it  on  their 
fathers'  knees  or  kissed  it  from  their  mothers' 
blessing  lips,  and  most  willingly  would  speak 
to  you,  did  it  depend  upon  them,  without 
any  of  those  deviations  at  which  ^^ou  may 
smile  ry  We  frequently  laugh  at  acts  of  our 
neighbors.  Did  we  know  all  the  antecedents, 
their  w^hole  education,  their  checkered  lives, 
Ave  should  probably  find  nothing  to  smile  at, 
and  at  times  these  very  acts  might  make  us 
weep  instead.  It  is  a  rule,  therefore,  of  much 
practical  importance  for  the  gentleman,  never 
to  laugh  at  others  unless  their  pretensions  de- 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  Ill 

serve  it;  but  if  he,  in  turn,  be  laughed  sJi,  he 
will  remember  that  it  is  a  common  failing  from 
Avhich  he  has  not  always  remained  free,  that 
placid  good  nature  is  a  signal  attribute  of  the 
gentleman,  and  that,  if  he  have  given  real 
cause  for  laughter,  there  is  no  better  means  to 
deprive  it  of  all  its  sting  than  freely  to  join 
in  it. 

I  have  spoken  of  laughing  at  others  only, 
not  of  laughing  in  general.  He  that  can 
never  heartily  laugh  can  hardly  have  a  heart 
at  all,  or  must  be  of  a  heavy  mind.  A  sound 
laugh  at  the  j^roper  time  is  the  happy  music 
of  a  frank  and  confiding  soul.  It  is  the  im- 
pulsive and  spontaneous  song  which  the  Crea- 
tor gave  to  man,  and  to  man  alone,  in  lieu  of 
all  the  lovely  tones  which  he  profusely  granted 
to  the  warblers  of  the  wood. 

But  we  must  return  to  more  serious  sub- 
jects before  I  conclude.  They  shall  be  treated 
of  in  two  more  remarks,  the  last  with  which 
I  shall  detain  you.  They  will  be  very  brief; 
but,  young  gentlemen,  I  invite  your  whole 
attention   to  them.     Ponder  them;   for  they 

10 


112    CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN. 

are  of  momentous  importance  for  your  whole 
lives, — important  even  to  your  country. 

'  Habit  is  the  best  magistrate/'  was  a  wise 
saying  of  Lord  Bacon's.  Mere  mental  ac- 
knowledgment of  moral  truth  becomes  power- 
less when  it  is  most  important  to  apply  it, — 
in  moments  of  great  temptation,  of  provoca- 
tion, or  passion.  If  repeated  and  constant 
acting  upon  that  truth  has  not  induced  a  habit 
or  grown  into  a  virtue,  if  may  be  sufficiently 
strong  to  produce  repentance  after  the  offence, 
but  not  to  guide  before  the  wrong  be  com- 
mitted. Apply  yourselves,  then,  sedulously 
at  once  to  act  habitually  by  the  highest 
standard  of  the  gentleman, — to  let  a  truly 
gentlemanly  spirit  permeate  your  being,  l^o 
better  opportunity  to  practise  this  moral  rule 
is  given  you  than  your  present  relation  to 
your  teachers.  Let  a  gentlemanly  tone  ever 
subsist  between  you.  You  will  thus  not  only 
make  your  lives  pleasant  and  sow  the  seeds 
of  happy  reminiscence,  but  it  will  give  new 
force  and  new  meaning  to  the  very  instruc- 
tion for  the  reception  of  which  you  have  come 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  113 

hither,  and  it  will  best  prepare  you  for  esta- 
blishing that  relation  which  is  one  of  the 
most  fruitful  and  blessed  that  can  subsist 
between  man  and  man :  I  mean  friendship 
between  the  teacher  and  the  taught, — a  re- 
lation of  which  we  find  so  touching  an  exam- 
ple in  Socrates  and  his  followers,  and  so  holy 
a  model  in  Christ  and  his  discij)les, — a  relation 
which  lends  new  strength  to  the  mind  to  seize 
what  is  offered,  and  which  in  a  great  measure 
overcomes  the  difficulty  of  communion  between 
soul  and  soul.  For  all  language,  except  in 
mathematics,  is  but  approximation  to  the 
subject  to  be  expressed,  and  affection  is  the 
readiest  and  truest  interpreter  of  the  ever-im- 
perfect human  w^ord.  Believe  me,  my  young 
friends,  however  extensive  the  knowledge  of 
your  teacher,  skilful  his  language,  or  ardent 
his  zeal,  and  however  close  your  attention  may 
be,  you  will  hear  and  learn  far  more  if  affec- 
tion towards  him  enlivens  that  attention,  and 
you  will  integrate  with  your  very  soul  that 
which,  without  friendship  between  you  and 
him,   remains   matter   of   purely   intellectual 


114    CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN. 

activity,  liable  to  be  superseded  by  successive 
layers  of  knowledge. 

If  thus  you  make  the  character  of  the  gen- 
tleman more  and  more  your  own,  you  will 
additionally  prepare  yourselves  for  the  high 
and  weighty  trusts  which  await  all  of  you  as 
citizens  of  a  commonwealth  in  which  we  enjoy 
a  rare  degree  of  personal  liberty.  I  have  shown 
you  how  closely  connected  the  character  of  the 
gentleman  is  with  a  high  sfandard  of  true  civil 
liberty,  but  it  is  necessary  to  direct  your  mind, 
in  addition,  to  the  fact  that  there  are  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  attaining  to  this  high  end,  pecu- 
liar to  young  Americans,  while  yet  it  may  be 
one  of  the  problems  the  solution  of  which  is 
assigned  to  us  in  history,  to  develop  the  pecu- 


liar character  of  the  high-bred  r epubl i c an_ge n - 
tleman  in  a  pervading  nationaltvpe,  as  it  has 
been  that  of  England  to  develop  the  character 
of  the  monarchical  gentleman. 

It  is  difficult  for  princes  to  imbibe  the  true 
spirit  of  the  gentleman,  because  their  position 
and  education  naturally  lead  to  the  growth  of 
selfishness;   and  so   there   are,  on   the   other 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  115 

hand,  difficulties,  not  insuperable,  yet  positive, 
in  the  way  of  carefully  cultivating  this  cha- 
racter, peculiar  to  a  country  like  ours,  in  which 
large  numbers  are  constantly  rolling  westward 
and  changing  their  dwellings,  neighbors,  and 
associations,  in  which  a  degree  of  success,  in 
a  worldly  view,  awaits  almost  with,  certainty 
health,  industry,  and  prudence,  without  neces- 
sarily requiring  the  addition  of  refinement  of 
feelings  or  polish  of  conduct,  and  in  which  at 
the  same  time  a  greater  amount  of  individual 
liberty  is  enjoyed  than  in  any  other  country. 
Suffrage  is  almost  universal,  and,  so  far  as  the 
vote  goes,  all  have  equal  weight :  you  see  some 
persons  rise  to  distinction,  without  any  high 
claim  to  morality,  religion,  or  gentlemanliness; 
and  the  power-holders,  whether  they  be  mon- 
archs  or  the  people,  a  few  or  many,  ever  listen 
to  flattery.  It  is  inherent  in  power;  gjQxl  it  is_ 
a  common  belief — though  I  am  convinced  of  the 
contrary — that  large  masses  are  not  flattered  by 
gentlemanliness.  Even  if  it  were  so,  we  would 
have  no  right  to  sacrifice  so  important  a  moral 
standard.      Are  we    allowed   to    do   any   evil 

10* 


^l 


116  CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN. 

which  we  may  yet  be  fully  persuaded  would 
promote  our  worldly  interest  ?  Is  it  ever  safe, 
even  in  a  purely  prudential  point  of  view,  to 
be  guided  by  secondary  motives,  when  con- 
duct and  the  choice  of  objects,  not  the  selection 
of  means,  are  the  question  ?  But,  happily,  it  is 
not  so.  Even  the  least  educated  have  an  in- 
stinctive  regard  for  the  high-bred  gentleman, 
however  they  may  contemn  certain  counter- 
feits of  the  gentleman,  esp'ecially  the  dandy  ; 
and  the  acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  a 
whole  community  that  a  man  is  a  gentleman 
gives  him  a  hold  on  it  most  important  in  all 
matters  of  action.  Adhere  to  it.  If  you  see 
others  rise  above  you  by  practices  which  you 
contemn,  you  must  remember  that  it  is  one  of 
the  very  attributes  of  the  gentleman  to  stand 
alone  when  occasion  requires  it,  in  dignity 
and  self-j)OSsession,  without  conceit,  but  con- 
scious that  he  has  acted  right,  honorably, 
gentlemanly.*     Distrust  every  one  who  would 

*  The  importance  of  the  character  of  the  gentleman 
in  politics,  especially  in  legislative  bodies  and  in  the 
Representative  in  general,  has  been  more  fully  discussed 


CHARACTER   OF   THE    GENTLEMAN.  117 

persuade  yon  to  promote  your  interest  by  de- 
scending. The  elementary  laAv  of  all  progress^^^ 
be  it  religious,  mental,  political,  or  industrial, 
is  that  those  who  have  talent,  skill,  character, 
or  knowledge  in  advance  of  others  should 
draw  these  after  them  and  make  the  lower  rise. 
This  is  the_truly_  democratic  law  of  united  'i  -  , 
^v-aji£em.eiit^_.iBL_S7hich  every  one  leads  in 
whatever  he  can  lead.  All  else  is  suspicious 
aristocracy, — the  aristocracy  of  a  few,  or  the 
aristocracy  of  the  low,  if  aristocracy  is  marked, 
as  I  think  it  is,  by  undue  privilege,  which  is 
unbefitting  to  all  men,  be  they  a  few  or  the 
many.  Scan  history,  and  you  will  find  that 
throughout  the  annals  of  civilization  this  uni- 
form law  j)i'evails,  that  a  favored  mind  per- 
ceives a  truth,  gives  utterance  to  it,  is  first 
disbelieved,  derided,  or  attacked,  perhaps  called 
upon  to  seal  the  truth  with  his  death ;  but  the 
truth  is  not  lost  on  that  account :  it  infuses 
itself  into  the  minds  of  the  very  detractors ; 
it  spreads  further  and  further,  is  discussed  and 

by  me  in  the  chapters  on  the  Duties  of  the  Representa- 
tive in  the  second  volume  of  "Political  Ethics." 


118  CHARACTER   OF   THE   GENTLEMAN. 

modified;  it  collects  votaries  sufficient  to  form 
a  minority,  and  at  length  the  minority  swells 
into  a  majorit}^,  which  ultimately  establishes 
the  principle  in  practice  :  so  that  the  whole 
process  has  consisted  in  men  being  led  up- 
wards to  the  truth,  not  in  truth  descending 
downwards  to  a  stagnant  level  of  mediocrity, 
ignorance,  or  want  of  civilization.  It  requires 
patience  and  gentlemanly  forbearance ;  but  is 
not  God  the  most  patient^ oT_all?  You  cannot 
j)oint  out  a  single  vast  movement  of  mankind 
towards  an  essential  improvement,  which  does 
not  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the  law  which 
I  have  just  stated  to  you. 

At  the  very  moment  of  writing  these  last 
words,  I  received  opportunely  the  sj^eech  of 
Six  JK^bei4^EfieL0ii.Jhe  30thj)f^une,*  in  which 
he  explains  the  reasons  of  his  resignation  and 
his  defeat  in  Parliament,  after  having  happily 
passed  the  free  corn-trade  bill ;  and  as  the  reader 
is  referred  in  some  works  to  a  diagram  at  the 
end  of  the  volume,  so  shall  I  conclude  by  point- 

^-  In  the  year  18-lG. 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN.    119 

ing  to  that  manly  speech  as  a  practical  illus- 
tration of  much  that  I  have  said  on  the  conduct 
of  the  gentleman  in  j>olitics.  Outvoted  in  Par- 
liament, discarded  by  the  party  with  whom  he 
came  into  office,  and  seeing  his  successor  in 
j)ower,  influence,  and  honors  before  him,  he 
still  speaks  of  his  whole  position,  his  antago- 
nists, and  his  former  friends  now  turned  into 
bitter  enemies,  with  calmness,  dignity,  and 
cheerful  liberality,  readily  allowing  that  in  a 
constitutional  country  the  loss  of  power  ought 
to  be  the  natural  consequence  of  a  change  of 
opinion  upon  a  vital  party  question,  that  is, 
upon  a  subject  of  national  magnitude.  Yet  he 
rejoices  at  having  thus  come  to  diiferent  and 
truer  views  upon  so  essential  a  point  as  that 
of  the  daily  bread  of  toiling  multitudes,  and 
frankly  ascribes  the  chief  merit  of  this  mo- 
mentous progress  to  a  person*  who  belongs  to 


^  Mr,  R.  Cobden,  Member  of  Parliament,  and  leader 
of  the  Anti  Corn-Law  League,  has  deserved  well  of 
mankind.  There  is  but  one  omission  in  Sir  Robert 
Peel's  speech  with  which  we  feel  tempted  to  find  fault. 
No  one  admires  more  than  myself  Mr.  Cobden's  wise  and 


120  CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN. 

a  sphere  of  politics  totally  different  from  thai 
in  which  he  himself  had  been  accustomed  to 

energetic  course,  wliicli,  indeed,  procured  him  the  offer 
of  a  place  in  the  Cabinet  from  the  Whigs  when  they 
were  forming  their  new  administration ;  but  even  his 
labors  and  the  arduous  exertions  of  the  Leftrgue  would 
have  remained  unavailing  for  a  long  time  yet,  as  it  seems, 
had  not  divine  wisdom  sent  at  this  precise  juncture  the 
potato-rot,  and  thus  aided  one  of  the  greatest  advance- 
ments of  mankind  to  come  to  maturity.  The  historian 
must  mention,  together  with  Cobden  and  the  League,  the 
potato-rot. 

This  acknowledgment  of  Sir  Robert  PeeVs  is  another 
evidence  of  the  invaluable  usefulness  of  that  greatest  of 
institutions  which  characterize  our  own  modern  liberty, 
— principled  and  persevering  opposiiion,  to  which  Sir 
Robert  Peel  bore  the  same  striking  testimony,  when,  in 
1829,  the  Catholic  Emancipation  bill  had  been  carried 
by  the  Wellington  and  Peel  cabinet,  and  the  latter  said, 
in  the  Commons,  "One  parting  word,  and  I  have  done. 
I  have  received  in  the  speech  of  my  noble  friend  the 
member  for  Donegal,  testimonies  of  approbation  which 
are  grateful  to  my  soul ;  and  they  have  been  liberally 
awarded  to  me  by  gentlemen  on  the  other  side  of  the 
House,  in  a  manner  which  does  honor  to  the  forbearance 
of  party  among  us.  They  have,  however,  one  and  all, 
awarded  to  me  a  credit  which  I  do  not  deserve  for  settling 
this  question.  The  credit  belongs  to  others,  and  not  to 
me:  it  belongs  to  Mr.  Fox,  to  Mr.  Grattan,  to  Mr.  Plun- 
ket,  to  the  gentlemen  opposite,  and  to  an  illustrious  and 
right  honorable  friend  of  mine  who  is  no  more  [mean- 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    GENTLEMAN.  121 

move.  It  is  a  gentlemanly  speech,  leaving  a 
corresponding  impression  in  his  own  country 
and  throughout  ours,  conciliating,  and  com- 
manding esteem, — an  effect  such  as  always 
attends  a  conduct  truly  gentlemanly,  where 
civilization  dwells  among  men. 

ing  Mr.  Canning].  By  their  efforts,  in  spite  of  my  oppo- 
sition, it  has  proved  victorious."  And  may  not  be  added 
here,  with  propriety,  the  reforms  of  the  penal  code  of* 
England,  so  perseveringly  urged  by  Sir  Samuel  Romilly 
and  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  and  at  length  partially 
adopted  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  in  1830?  • — ■ 

Wellington, — who,  in  a  conversation  with  Canning  on 
certain  statements  made  by  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  had 
said,  "I  see  what  you  mean;  but  could  I  suppose  that 

the  fellow  was  a  d liar?" — Wellington,  in  the  House 

of  Lords,  in  honor  of  Peel's  memory,  soon  after  his 
sudden  death,  praised  above  all  his  truthfulness.  There 
may  be  party  men  who  doubt  this :  I  state  the  fact  that 
a  soldier  and  statesman  like  Wellington  praised  above  all 
other  things,  in  a  statesman  like  Peel,  his  veracity,  as  a 
fact  deserving  to  be  remembered  by  all  youth  of  modern 
free  countries. 


THE    END. 


OF  THB 

TJNIVERSIT 


LOAN  DIPT. 

Renewed  ^ooks^^esub^^^ 


LD  2lA-50m-8,'61 
(Cl795sl0)476B 


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